Most of the mines purchased by private individuals are newly opened, and the reserves are unknown. If you make a profit, it is your ability; if you lose, it is your bad luck.
As for the scattered gold miners, they are managed and taxed by the local government at a rate of 4% of ten.
Of course, there is no perfect system, and it is impossible to have one. We can only try to improve it as much as possible and make timely adjustments.
In later generations, anyone who was rich would be described as "you have a mine." The emperor was rich and the whole world belonged to him. How could he abandon mining as a means of increasing income?
Despite this, Zhu Youxiao was very cautious about the eunuchs he sent out and made the final selection after careful investigation.
Although Fang Zhenghua, Li Fengxiang, Chu Xianzhang and others were not perfect people, they were still much better than those hypocritical civil servants.
Moreover, even if one made a mistake in hiring, supervision could help to remedy the situation. Not only were the powers of these mining supervisors greatly reduced, but the Supervisory Office and local authorities could also impeach them for illegal and cruel acts.
Fang Zhenghua took the document with both hands, kneeling on the ground to read it. This was the Emperor's admonition, explaining the key points of his work. He also assigned personnel from the Ministry of Industry to guide him in mining technology.
"I will do my best on this trip to repay the Lord's kindness." Fang Zhenghua kowtowed.
Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "If there is anything difficult, and you cannot make a decision, you can report it to me. Well, if you have nothing else to report, you can leave!"
"Your Majesty, take care of yourself. I will be leaving now." Fang Zhenghua kowtowed and said goodbye, then bowed and left the hall.
No matter how carefully I select, there will always be people who criticize me, just like when I sent mine supervisors to Emperor Wanli. Eunuchs and castrated men, and the emperors who favored them, were all incompetent rulers.
But now, Zhu Youxiao no longer cares about what others think or say. Whether he is a foolish ruler or a wise ruler, who cares when he closes his eyes?
The key is that I want to live to be a hundred, and seventy or eighty is also acceptable. But in this world where there is no peace, how can I live that long in peace?
They also had a sense of responsibility. They couldn't bear to see the hellish scene at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and they didn't want the Qing army to occupy the Central Plains.
But in the final analysis, Zhu Youxiao felt that he was secure in his position as emperor, the people would be spared from the suffering of war, and the Little Ice Age would not cause China to sink.
In fact, this idea is not wrong. If Zhu Youxiao, as a time traveler, cannot be a good emperor and does not live long, then no one else can be more powerful than him.
Take the gold mines in Zhaoyuan, for example. With the right policies, mining would have been profitable. However, production was low, and development was hindered by the constraints of the civil service and the corruption of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Youxiao has been promoting benefits and eliminating disadvantages, and has been cleaning up and rectifying things for this purpose. Moreover, this will be a long-term and persistent policy.
After centuries of feudal dynasties, decay is inevitable. Either revolution, overthrowing and rebuilding a dynasty, is called a change of dynasty; or reform, rectifying the wrongs and revitalizing the system, is called a "revitalization."
Zhu Youxiao was the emperor, so he naturally ruled out the first option without hesitation. It was simple; there was only one path for him to take. No need to overthink or hesitate; just go for it.
Fang Zhenghua stepped back, and the emperor thought for a moment, then reached out to take the memorial and began to read it.
If the speech is to please the emperor, even if it is slightly inappropriate, the emperor will not be held accountable; if the speech is obscure and long-winded, the emperor will be troubled and will not appreciate it even if it is the truth.
Now all the ministers knew the emperor's temper, and even the most stubborn ministers wisely added punctuation in their texts or used spaces to break sentences.
Especially for the chambers of commerce that were specially granted the right to submit petitions to the emperor, their writing was more clear and concise, saving the emperor the trouble.
For example, this memorial from Tang Mo of the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce made Zhu Youxiao see the catalyst for the development of industry and commerce, that is, the Yangtze River shipping.
When talking about Yangtze River shipping, we must first talk about the merchant groups that emerged in the Ming Dynasty.
The Song and Ming dynasties, both particularly developed feudal dynasties with highly developed industry and commerce, are often compared. People often have the impression that the Song dynasty was the most commercial, while the Ming dynasty was far inferior.
Despite the Song Dynasty's booming economy, merchant guilds did not emerge. However, in the Ming Dynasty, merchant guilds continued to emerge. Guilds such as the Shanxi merchants, the Huizhou merchants, and the Zhejiang merchants all rose to prominence during the Ming Dynasty.
The reason for this is that the Song Dynasty did not have a relatively stable social environment. Because the army was not strong, the threat from neighboring countries was great. The weak Song Dynasty could not form strategic suppression, and wars on the border continued all the time.
The crux of the matter is simple: the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun could never be controlled by the Song Dynasty. This was the biggest security flaw of the Song Dynasty.
The second reason is also related to the continuous wars. In order to avoid war, the weak Song Dynasty had the habit of paying tribute to other neighboring countries.
Where did these annual tributes come from? Naturally, they came from the people of the country, including merchants. From the data, it can be seen that the commercial tax in the Song Dynasty was much higher than that in the Ming Dynasty. It is not an exaggeration to say that it was exploitation.
In addition, the Song Dynasty was notorious for its redundant expenses, redundant officials, and redundant soldiers. The government's fiscal expenditure was huge, and land annexation was not suppressed. Therefore, it could only plunder from various sources to ensure the normal operation of the country.
In contrast, during the Ming Dynasty, commercial taxes were "all 1/30, no more could be collected," which was simply insignificant for merchants. The Ming Dynasty's emphasis on agriculture and suppression of commerce, with heavy burdens on farmers and reduced taxes on merchants, was truly astonishing.
The Ming Dynasty inherited the scientific and technological achievements left by the Song Dynasty and made great progress on this basis. This undoubtedly accelerated social production efficiency and the folk handicraft industry developed rapidly.
Taking the handicraft industry represented by the Jiangnan region as an example, Songjiang Lu'an Prefecture had 13,000 looms at its peak;
Cities such as Nanjing and Linqing "are more than thirty miles in circumference, and within one city, there are nearly one million people, both from the north and the south, including gentlemen, merchants and civilians."
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