Those who were invited by Duan Hai must be well-known and wealthy businessmen in Quanzhou City.
Coincidentally, these wealthy businessmen are all engaged in maritime trade.
There is no way around it. Maritime trade is so profitable these days that it is simply a huge profit.
The most important thing is that they make so much money but don’t have to pay much tax.
Anyone who can make a business so big must be a smart person.
Now when everyone heard Lu Chen say this, their faces turned green.
You, Lu Chen, are really black-hearted! You say you are serving us and doing it for our own good, but in reality, all you want is to increase taxes!
It goes without saying that the imperial court has seen the huge profits from maritime trade and is planning to take action against it.
What a brand new government office, what a one-stop service, they all sound nice, but the ultimate goal is to implement new tax laws.
As it concerns their own vital interests, most of the businessmen present put down their cups and chopsticks. Everyone's eyes unconsciously turned to the businessman sitting at the top. It was obvious that this person should be the leader of this group of maritime merchants, or at least a man whose words could have their impact.
Lu Chen also looked at the other person with a smile, carefully sizing up the person in front of him.
This was an old man in his fifties, dressed in a gorgeous official robe. The robe was mainly dark purple, embroidered with exquisite golden silk patterns, like the twinkling stars in the night sky.
The sleeves were wide and flowing, swaying gently with the old man's movements, like the sleeves of a dancing fairy.
The collar is inlaid with a circle of tiny pearls, which makes the old man look more elegant and noble.
In short, as soon as you see the way this person is dressed, you can tell that he is a rich man, and a rich man who is used to a life of luxury and is not easy to mess with.
Lu Chen smiled and nodded to the other party, saying hello: "I wonder what this old man's name is? You look familiar. Have we met somewhere before?"
"Hahaha, Master Imperial Master really loves to joke. What kind of status do you have? How could you possibly have met someone as lowly as me? My name is Sun Guangjin. I have a few shops in Quanzhou City and run a small business."
"Mr. Sun, you are too modest. I can see that you have an extraordinary bearing and are not an ordinary person. I wonder what you think of what I just said, Mr. Sun?"
Sun Guangjin thought to himself, how could I watch it? Of course I just sat down and watched it while drinking.
"I am truly touched that the Imperial Master and the court are thinking of us in Quanzhou City. I wish I could go to see the Emperor right now and kowtow to him."
"As for what the Imperial Master said about building more infrastructure, I also think that's the way it should be. Quanzhou City is indeed a place that has fallen into disrepair, such as the roads and the port docks."
"By the way, if there's a need, all of us here are happy to donate money. After all, it's used to build our own hometown. Don't you agree?"
After Sun Guangjin said this, the remaining merchants nodded and said that if the national master is short of money, just tell him and we can make up for it.
In short, his attitude was very good and he seemed to be cooperative, but after all the talk, he didn't say anything about his opinion on the new tax law.
Anyone with a discerning eye could see that Sun Guangjin didn't really want to talk about this topic, and even thought that there was something wrong with the person who brought up this topic.
However, Lu Chen showed no understanding of social etiquette at this time. He continued to ask with a smile, "Then I wonder what the old gentleman thinks of the new tax law?"
"Well..." Sun Guangjin hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Taxation is the foundation of a country. With income, the country will become better. I naturally support it. But the new tax law that the National Master mentioned hasn't been implemented yet, and we don't know the specific content. I really can't comment on it."
Sun Guangjin kicked the ball to Lu Chen. He didn't believe that Lu Chen could come up with a tax law on the spot.
Lu Chen also chuckled and said, "The new tax law will naturally require consultation with everyone before being submitted to the court for approval, so there is no entity yet."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this, thinking that it would be fine if the new tax law was implemented right away. It seemed that the new tax law was not something that was made up on a whim, so could it be a little more reliable?
What these people call reliable is whether the new tax law can collect less tax.
Because from what Lu Chen said just now, it seemed that the court was planning to slaughter the fat sheep and cut off a piece of meat from them.
Seeing that everyone's expressions had eased a lot, Lu Chen smiled. He looked at everyone with a sense of humor and said, "Although the new tax law hasn't formulated detailed regulations, the general idea is still there. Let me give you a hint first."
"If it's ordinary goods, the tax burden is similar to our usual transactions. However, once it involves tea, silk, porcelain, perfume and other new products, a luxury tax of 50% of the total revenue will be levied!"
What? !
Upon hearing this, all the businessmen present lost their composure!
Are you kidding me? 50%!?
Doesn’t that mean that after they work hard in business and sell things, they have to give half of the money to the court?
And this is just the gross profit, which also includes the money they spend on maintaining the ship, the money for managing the business, and the money for hiring workers.
If all these miscellaneous fees are counted, then their work would be in vain. Aren't they just working for the court?
It would be strange if everyone looked happy when thinking about this. Before the new tax law was implemented, everyone was a wealthy family.
Now that the new tax law has been implemented, their wealth has been reduced by more than half. Who can bear this?
So Sun Guangjin forced a smile and said, "Master, you're joking. Fifty percent is really too much. If that's the case, those of us who do maritime trade won't make much money. Master, you may not know that maritime trade is not easy. You have to put your head on the belt to make a living."
"The ocean's temper is unpredictable. When you go out to sea, you have to be prepared to be eaten by fish. Furthermore, there are not only natural disasters at sea, but also man-made disasters. If you encounter pirates, you will also lose everything."
After Sun Guangjin finished speaking, the group of businessmen below began to complain, saying how difficult it was for them to make money.
Lu Chen just treated such remarks as nonsense.
Is a 100% tariff on luxury goods really high? In this era, he doesn't think it is high at all.
The reason these people don't want to pay is simply because they have been spoiled before.
Lu Chen felt that this kind of atmosphere was not good and should be changed, so he waved his hand and said, "Alright, I see that everyone is having a hard time. There is no rush on this matter. We should have sought opinions from all parties. Let's discuss it later."
"Let's talk about the second thing. Quanzhou City needs to be renovated, which will inevitably require demolishing some buildings and purchasing some of the land from the people. I wonder what you all think the court should offer as an appropriate amount? Come, I'll let you set your own prices!"
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