In the Forbidden City in Nanjing, Zhu Cixiang was discussing tax matters with a group of cabinet ministers.
Sufficient taxation is a necessary condition to maintain the normal operation of a country in times of governance, let alone in times of chaos.
In order to maintain prestige in troubled times, the imperial court must maintain a large enough army, and military expenditures alone amount to a large amount of money every year.
Of course, this money has to come from taxes.
Although Zhu Cihong still had nearly 10 million taels of money in his pocket, it was only enough for the army to consume for two or three years.
It was always right to prepare for a rainy day.
The existing tax system in Ming Dynasty can basically be divided into several major parts.
A large part is agricultural tax, which was basically the main source of tax revenue in the Ming Dynasty.
However, the agricultural tax collection model is very unreasonable.
Officials, gentry, and lords are exempt from tax, and the entire tax is borne by the common people.
High taxes coupled with droughts and locust plagues can easily cause farmers to go bankrupt, which will in turn lead to large numbers of refugees.
If someone takes advantage of it, a team like Li Chuang will emerge.
If we want to reform agricultural taxes, we must get rid of the bad tax exemption rule for acres of land owned by officials and gentry.
Otherwise, no matter how we reform it, we will just change the problem without changing the medicine.
In addition to agricultural taxes, the largest part is commercial taxes.
Commercial taxes are very complicated, with many types, but the commission ratio is not high.
Coupled with the collusion between officials and businessmen, most of the money eventually went into the pockets of officials, and the court did not get much.
Of course, there is a very special category among commercial taxes, and that is sea tax.
In essence, Shanghai tax is also a type of commercial tax, but because it is mainly levied on large and small maritime merchants, it can be listed separately.
I am afraid that only Zhu Cihong and the Zheng family know how rich the sea tax is.
Needless to say, Zhu Cixiang's soul came from later generations and he knew the secrets clearly.
As for the Zheng family, they are probably the biggest beneficiaries of the sea tax collection.
According to later literature records, in the last years of Chongzhen, Zheng Zhilong was able to earn 10 million taels of silver a year just by collecting sea taxes.
The Ming Dynasty's various levies and increases could not collect that much tax even in a year.
It is no exaggeration to describe the Zheng family as being extremely wealthy.
So much so that in the later period, Zheng Zhilong did not even bother to go out to do business on his own.
Instead, he settled in Fujian and relied on collecting taxes to support the huge navy.
For today's Ming Dynasty, sea tax is definitely an important source of income.
However, judging from the previous situation where Zhu Cihong and Zheng Zhilong agreed to establish the Huangming Trading Chamber of Commerce, it was not very optimistic.
From May to November, Zheng Zhilong successively sent dividends of one million taels of silver to Nanjing within half a year.
If Zheng Zhilong earns 10 million taels a year, he should give the court 5 million taels in profit a year, and 2.5 million taels in half a year.
But Zheng Zhilong only sent one million taels of silver, which meant that Zheng Zhilong only gave 20% of the profits to the court instead of the 50% agreed upon by both parties.
This is simply sending beggars away.
Zhu Cixiang was of course extremely angry inside.
Taxation was originally the prerogative of the imperial court, and Zhu Cixiang was now sharing this power with the Zheng family.
Unexpectedly, Zheng Zhilong was acting as a fool and deceiving the court as a fool.
That is to say, those cabinet ministers who had not seen the huge profits from sea trade would be greatly surprised when they saw the one million taels sent by Zheng Zhilong.
But with Zhu Cixiang's current strength, he cannot fall out with Zheng Zhilong.
A war may break out in Huguang and Shandong at any time.
At this time, there must be no chaos in the rear.
Zhu Cixi could only consider collecting taxes from other coastal provinces first.
After all, Fujian was not the only place in the Ming Dynasty that was close to the sea.
Zhu Cihong divided maritime trade into two types: north and south.
The one to the south is definitely going to the Southeast Asian countries.
You can start from Guangdong and avoid Fujian.
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As for the north, there are more options.
Zhejiang, Shandong and even Tianjin are fine.
In addition to the trade between provinces, the maritime trade in the north is mostly with Japan.
Previously, this part of sea trade was mainly monopolized by the Zheng family.
Zhu Cixiang decided to step in and negotiate with Japan in the name of the imperial court.
This move also served as a reminder to Zheng Zhilong that the court could collect sea tax even without the Zheng family.
Of course, even if you add all these together, you may not receive two to three million taels a year.
After all, the imperial court has just started in this area and cannot compare with the Zheng family who have been engaged in this industry for more than ten years.
Maritime trade is all about channels.
Apart from having an advantage in terms of justice, the imperial court doesn't have much to offer.
But this must be attempted.
Because if you don’t do this, the gap will get bigger and bigger.
Just like the Navy, if Zhu Cixiang didn't order the Longjiang Shipyard to devote all its efforts to building warships, how could the team of the Denglai Navy be built?
Collecting sea tax yields quick results, but it may not take more than a few years to reach the peak level of the Zheng family.
What troubles Zhu Cixiang most is the mining tax.
During the Wanli period, mine supervisors were set up in various places to be responsible for collecting mining taxes.
Since the mine supervisors were all ministers who came out of the palace and were very loyal to the court and the emperor, the court could still receive a large amount of tax money every year.
However, this hindered the interests of scholar-bureaucrats and the Donglin Party, and they have been criticized verbally and written by the civil servants.
Just because of the collection of mining taxes, the civil officials almost spit their spit in Emperor Wanli's face.
However, Emperor Wanli was quite tough and never gave in.
You spray yours and I will accept mine.
It was through sea tax and mining tax that Emperor Wanli could afford hundreds of thousands of border troops and fight the three major levies.
But everything changed when Emperor Chongzhen, Zhu Cihong's cheap father, came to the throne.
You said you would just abolish the Jinyiwei, but you even abolished the mining tax.
Just because the civil servant class advocates that the emperor will not compete with the people for profit.
Well, the emperor no longer competes with the people for profits, and all these profits have been seized by the officials and gentry.
Zhu Cixi ordered people to do a preliminary inventory and found that most of the closed mines had not stopped mining, but were being mined in full swing.
The people who mine these mines are the local officials and gentry.
This really slapped Emperor Chongzhen in the face.
Of course, Zhu Cixiang was not prepared to let these morons dig into Ming's walls and steal Ming's wealth.
But he was not prepared to follow the old path of Emperor Wanli.
Don’t you think that the government’s mining tax is competing with the people for profit?
Well, I won’t collect the tax.
I will directly undertake the procurement and sales.
Not to mention gold and copper mines, all the minerals mined go into the national treasury and internal funds.
For other minerals, the entire process from mining to sales is done entirely in the name of the imperial court.
This is tantamount to declaring in disguise that the Daming Minerals belong to the imperial court, shutting up those civil servants who only demand double standards from others.
This is what Zhu Cixiang has always wanted to do but failed to do.
Because he did not have enough troops in his hands before, he was afraid that it would be difficult to suppress the situation.
Now Zhu Cixiang doesn't need to worry.
If someone takes the lead in making trouble, he will be directly arrested and sent to prison.
Someone started a rebellion and led the army to defeat them.
It’s time for those fat-headed worms to wake up.
The interests of the court are above all else
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