"I heard that the once-abolished inheritance tax is about to be reinstated. Song Gong, what do you think of this matter? ”

At Chang'an Railway Station, a group of imperial dignitaries and dignitaries were gathered in the richly decorated VIP waiting hall, looking out the window from time to time at the platform, while whispering.

Zongzheng Temple Shaoqing and Chengyuan Marquis Qi Weizhi paced to the side of Song Wenqing, the provost of Chang'an University and Pingyang Bo, and after greeting each other, they couldn't help mentioning the topic of inheritance tax collection that was constantly being discussed in the capital.

"The inheritance tax was first circulated in the ancient Roman period of Cessie, and after the death of a wealthy family, it was levied on 5%-10% of the value of the inheritance as a pension for the soldiers. Hundreds of years ago (in the Middle Ages) in continental Europe, the heir of a lord had to pay money to a superior lord if he wanted to inherit a title and estate; When a lord dies, his heirs also need to pay money in kind to the lord, which is called the inheritance tax in the feudal era of the Middle Ages. Song Wenqing pushed the glasses on the bridge of his nose and said slowly: "But there is no general situation in the history of my Chinese history where inheritance tax is levied, and there is no established practice. In the past, Taizu proposed to expropriate it for the first time, but for more than 40 years, it has been repeated from time to time, and it has been stored and discarded several times, but it has not grown into a long-term practice. ”

"yes, this inheritance tax committee is really unpleasant." Qi Weizhi said with a smile: "To be honest, as far as I am concerned, I am extremely disapproving of this tax. Tell me, after decades of hard work, you can not accumulate a considerable amount of assets for future generations, thinking that you can benefit future generations and let them live a comfortable life without worrying about food and clothing. But when we were dying, we had to be scraped off our bodies by the government, which was unbearable. ”

"That being said, the imposition of an inheritance tax will go some way to preventing the disparity between the rich and the poor in the country." Song Wenqing shook his head and said: "I have been in the country for more than 90 years, and the country is rich and the people are rich, which can be described as a prosperous era in ancient times. However, for decades, the rich have been worth a huge amount of money, living in a mansion in Washington, and living a life of extreme poverty and luxury. The poor only maintain three meals and clothing, live in mud houses and wooden houses, and work hard for a salary of three or five yuan a month. Inheritance tax levied on wealthy families may be able to smooth out the disparity between the rich and the poor. ”

"Song Gong's intention is to approve of the resumption of this inheritance tax?"

"Uncle Cheng Yuan thinks it's not feasible?" Song Wenqing asked rhetorically.

"Since the cabinet has introduced the inheritance tax again, it must have received strong support from the crown prince." Qi Weizhi sighed: "Even if I don't want to, what can I do? …… You can't disobey your will! ”

Song Wenqing smiled, stopped talking, and turned his head to look in the direction of the platform outside the window.

Heavily armed Praetorian Guards were scattered like beacons, while gendarmes and policemen, armed with muskets and batons, kept the crowd welcoming friends and relatives from afar.

The bustling crowd was already surprised by this situation, and looking at this formation, it must have been the arrival of a foreign mission, or an important member of the royal family, and it was estimated that a simple welcome ceremony would be held, and after the dignitaries had left, they would be let in to welcome their relatives or friends.

Wait, and let those outsiders appreciate the power of our Great Qi Empire!

These ordinary people will never be able to understand the worries and dissatisfaction of the powerful people in the VIP waiting room, but they must be happy to watch the excitement or gloat a little after hearing that the inheritance tax will be levied again.

No matter how much this tax is levied, it won't be levied on our ordinary people, will it?

The thing that can make the nobles and lords deflated, that is the thing that the people like to see the most.

In 1598, in order to resist the Spanish invasion and insist on the war of independence, the Netherlands officially began to levy this tax on the wealthy in the country in the name of inheritance tax. Subsequently, European countries that had been drained by the Thirty Years' War followed suit. Although the effect of the collection is not very good, and the money collected is not much, it is still a slight supplement to the difficult finances.

As early as more than 50 years ago, Emperor Taizu had accepted the advice of Dutch financial advisers and also imposed an inheritance tax in the country. However, due to the opposition of the elite and many wealthy families, and in order to attract capital from all over the world, it soon abandoned and stopped the collection of inheritance tax.

You Qi State will not come up with a trick of plotting to seize the property of the dead under the banner of protecting private property sacrosanctly!

During the period of Emperor Taiping, the Qi State successively fought the Maratha War, the Aceh War, and the Gulf War. However, after several months of brewing and a period of operation, the expropriation effect was not very good, which caused the families of the powerful to complain, so it was suspended.

True, it was only temporarily suspended, but not abolished.

When Emperor Taiping recuperated in Nanyu County and the crown prince was appointed to supervise the country, the news of the resumption of inheritance tax suddenly came again.

Many people are speculating that Emperor Taiping is likely to follow Emperor Taizu's actions and abdicate as Emperor Taishang due to physical reasons, and then let the crown prince succeed to the throne, so as to ensure the stability of the imperial political situation. Then, in order to demonstrate his ability and authority, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince may really support the Cabinet to resume the collection of inheritance tax.

Of course, the resumption of inheritance tax will not immediately make up for the huge financial shortfall, but it shows the attitude of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to some extent. With the work that three generations of emperors could not complete, but it was carried out under the auspices of the crown prince, what a tough trend, it is self-evident.

If you add this nationwide tax inspection, I don't know how many wealthy tycoons and high-ranking officials will be implicated.

The crown prince is starting to build momentum for the upcoming throne!

If you don't want to be disliked after the crown prince succeeds to the throne and choose another cabinet minister, then you can only adapt to the situation and try to cooperate with all the promotion affairs during the prince's supervision of the country.

However, it is indeed time to redefine the finances, and the government feels that there is no money to spend every year.

Railways, highways, water conservancy, urban infrastructure, national defense, foreign affairs, foreign aid, public security, education, science and technology, medical and health care, debt repayment, and increasing spending on social security and welfare all put the fiscal under extreme pressure every year.

If there is additional spending on war and unexpected disaster prevention and relief, it will most likely require the issuance of government bonds to meet the demand.

Before the outbreak of the Qi-British War, the cabinet and the military were optimistic that the war should not last more than two years, and as long as the English were beaten, they would naturally quickly admit defeat and give in, so as to gain the market of this island country with a population of more than 7 million.

Unexpectedly, the Kingdom of England appeared to be extremely resilient, and it took more than two years to take the initiative to seek an armistice and negotiate peace.

You must know that in the past three years, the navy of our country has rotated three fleets, and the capital ships have also lost more than 30 -- although most of them are pure sail warships, many steam warships also need to be completely overhauled or directly scrapped, and more than 4,500 officers and men have suffered casualties (a considerable part of them died of illness due to unaccustomed water and soil or infected with the epidemic).

Commercial interests were also lost, and many goods had to be transported and sold by the Dutch and French, and a large number of goods were sold at a discount to the market, so that the merchants of these two countries had nothing to eat.

What also surprised and frustrated Qi was that before the war, England organized dozens of privateers that could be called "suicidal" to rush into the waters of the Indian Ocean and raid the merchant ships of Qi that came and went.

Although most of the Qi merchant ships in this area were steam-sail hybrid ships, which were far faster than the English privateers, and could easily escape the pursuit of pirates, several merchant ships were attacked due to negligence.

What shocked the Qi State even more was that the English privateers actually launched a "heroic" attack on the mainland of Hanzhou. Two privateers infested the ports of Dongping County (a Danish town in southwestern Australia) and Jingjiang County (present-day Karatha, western Australia) in Linhai Province and shelled fishing boats, killing two people and injuring five others.

Although this is not a big deal, it has also made the boss empire really lose face, and the navy has also suffered a lot of criticism at home.

With so much military spending and so many warships built every year, your navy actually lets the enemy hit your doorstep?!

It should be known that in addition to the early 30 years of the founding of the People's Republic of China, a large number of forts were built in important coastal cities and ports, and since the initial establishment of the maritime hegemony of the Indian Ocean by the Qi State, many coastal towns and villages have not built any defense facilities at all.

If the English privateers had been a little more daring, they might have really become the third hostile force to invade the Qi mainland after the Dutch East India Company and the Spanish colonial territories of the Philippines.

After the trouble of the English privateers, not only did the ships of some maritime transport trading companies consider reinstalling artillery on the bow of their ships (in order to save transportation costs and maximize the loading of goods, the Qi merchant ships that traveled to and from the Indian Ocean have long since ceased to place artillery), but even some coastal towns that lacked defense facilities began to urgently build a number of shore defense batteries, and took turns to recruit local villagers to prevent the invasion of the enemy.

Taking advantage of the war, the navy carried out a new round of expansion, expanding the overall size of the fleet from more than 260 ships to more than 300, and increasing the number of officers and men from 65,000 to more than 74,000.

Not to be outdone, under the pretext of forming a Persian garrison and a European expeditionary force, the army not only fully established all 20 regiments, but also added eight additional regiments (five of which were empty shelf regiments) and a large number of artillery, baggage troops, dragoons, and other technical arms, and the number of officers and men increased by as much as 30 percent, bringing the number of troops to more than 54,000.

Good guys, this military expenditure soared by more than 30% directly on the basis of the sixteenth year of Taiping (1720), which greatly squeezed the government's spending on other projects.

Not to mention that in order to strengthen its control over many overseas territories – and of course, to make it easier to access the many resources of overseas territories, the government is setting off a new wave of investment in infrastructure such as railways, roads, ports, and telegraphs, and the money spent is pouring into many industries and regions in the country.

"Alas, no matter how much money this country has saved, it will not be enough in the end." Qi Weizhi watched the railway number workers on the platform suddenly get busy, and knew that a train was about to enter the station, so he immediately stood up and walked out of the VIP waiting room with the officials who greeted him.

......With a long whistle sounding, a train spewed black smoke and slowly drove into the station, and the driver kept waving the signal flag in his hand to indicate the exact stopping position of the train.

The "......" train spit out a puff of white smoke and stopped steadily, and the thick smoke enveloped the entire front of the locomotive.

"Playing music!"

"Stand upright!"

"Salute!"

As the door of a VIP carriage was opened, Baron Spencer Compton, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of England, stepped out of the carriage under the guidance of several Qi diplomats.

"Oh God!"

Baron Compton glanced at the platform and saw two rows of majestic soldiers, dressed in sky-blue uniforms and carrying muskets with bayonets, "demonstrating" to their group to the accompaniment of military music.

"Mr. Minister, this is the honor guard of the Qi State, specially designed to welcome foreign heads of state and foreign envoys." An entourage who was well versed in Qi's domestic affairs whispered.

"Well, Qi Guo is really a brave and ...... Interesting country. A smile twinked at the corner of Baron Compton's mouth.

After stepping onto the platform, he subconsciously looked at the surrounding buildings and people.

In the territory of Qi, in addition to some tall monuments and huge religious towers, there are many magnificent buildings that are related to the railway.

Bridges spanning more than a mile, huge railway stations, and indefinitely stretching railway lines seem to be the outward manifestation of the inner faith of this mighty empire.

The railroad in the desert is straight and long, the railroad in the mountain valley is laborious, the clatter of the train echoes in the wooded valley, and finally into the bustling and lively city.

The wide river is crossed by gigantic bridges of strange shapes – its towering cantilever beams, dense network of beams, pillars and cables, oriental-shaped gatehouses, and two-way roads for trains and ordinary traffic all amaze guests from afar and are unforgettable.

Traveling through most of the Han continent, Baron Compton truly saw the grandeur of a steam empire, whose steamships and steam locomotive tracks were as important to the empire as the frontier roads were to Rome.

No, these things are definitely far more than the Roman frontier roads, and are the greatest inventions of thousands of years.

To be honest, along the way, Baron Compton was really shocked by the strength of the Qi State, and his psychological expectations for negotiations were constantly lowered and revised.

In his opinion, if peace can be reached and an armistice agreement can be signed smoothly with the Qi state, then the kingdom of England must learn from the Qi country in all aspects, including their management system, their military, their machines, their inventions, their science, and even all of them.

This country is something that we in England cannot defeat at all, their power is inexhaustible, and their industrial production is on an unprecedented scale.

If it weren't for the distance and the isolated geography of England, this mighty empire might have easily torn us apart.

In this way, we in England have only one choice, to end this war immediately.

Even if it comes at a heavy price.

(End of chapter)