Although Zhao Jun served as the prime minister for five or six years and seemed to have accumulated a lot of prestige, there were many people in the court who were dissatisfied with him, and there were also many censors and remonstrators who often impeached him. However, Zhao Zhen and Zhao Jun turned a deaf ear to them.
Now it's just another wave.
They are all used to it.
Just ignore it.
Under this wave of opposition, there was almost no trouble, and Zhao Tan became the only general to be granted the title of county marquis since the founding of the country.
And time slowly came to the end of the second year of the Qingli period.
From the beginning of the new policy in February to the increase in autumn taxes in the second half of the year, it was surprising that although the agricultural tax was lower than before, only more than 5 million strings of cash, the commercial tax increased a lot, reaching more than 33 million strings of cash, of which about 19 million strings of cash were commercial taxes and levies, and another 16 million strings of cash were foreign trade.
You should know that according to historical records, foreign trade revenue during the Southern Song Dynasty only accounted for about 6% of the fiscal revenue. Based on the Southern Song Dynasty's total annual revenue of about 100 million to 160 million guan, it basically maintained between 6 million and 10 million guan.
Among them, Guangzhou and Quanzhou were the main ones, with a combined income of more than 2 million strings of cash.
The combined revenue of the other twenty or so ports, including Mingzhou, Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Jiangyin, and Xiuzhou, was only a few million strings of cash, which was a far cry from the Northern Song Dynasty today.
But the two are actually completely different.
Firstly, the Southern Song Dynasty only counted the income from port trade, and did not include the income from land trade with the Jin Dynasty, Dali, Western Xia and other countries.
Secondly, Japan had not yet discovered silver mines during the Southern Song Dynasty, making it difficult to engage in large-scale trade with the Song Dynasty.
Now the Song Dynasty not only does foreign trade business in Central Asia, but also develops five trade routes with Liao, Western Xia, and Dali at the same time. It also sends envoys to Central Asia to communicate more with Arab merchants in Central Asia and encourage maritime trade between the two sides.
So since last year, the growth of maritime trade has increased significantly.
The income of Guangzhou and Quanzhou alone reached more than 3 million guan, and the annual trade volume with Japan soared to 40 million taels of silver, eight times the original amount, which also brought the court an income of about 4 million taels of silver.
Including other ports of the Maritime Customs, the annual maritime trade revenue in the second year of the Qingli period basically reached nearly 10 million guan, reaching the highest level in the history of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Moreover, the Southern Song Dynasty did not deepen its communication with Central Asia, nor did it discover the silver mines in Japan, so the income of 10 million kan was the limit.
Now is not the limit. With the increase in trade volume, it is very likely that the annual import and export volume will reach hundreds of millions of guan, and the tax alone will reach 10 or 20 million guan. Therefore, it can be said that the current maritime trade is booming and the future is promising.
In addition to maritime trade, land trade along the Silk Road, the Ancient Tea-Horse Road, and trade between Liao and Song, and between Xia and Song also surged. Last year, the Liao Kingdom alone imported 800,000 kilograms of sulfur from the Song Dynasty.
Because the Song Dynasty established trade transit stations on Jeju Island and Tsushima Island and encouraged merchants to go to Japan for trade, Song Dynasty books, handicrafts, porcelain and tea were almost in great demand in Japan.
Japan's sulfur, copper and iron were almost snatched away by Song Dynasty merchants.
Then the merchants of the Song Dynasty simply did not return to the Song Dynasty. They reported and replenished water and food on Jeju Island, and sailed directly to the Mizhou Maritime Customs in Shandong. After reporting and replenishing supplies at the Mizhou Maritime Customs, they arrived at Qianfu County.
Qianfu County is the later Huanghua City in Hebei Province. The Song Dynasty set up a port here, mainly for bulk trade with the Northeast Jurchens and the Liao Kingdom.
Merchants from the Song Dynasty transported the sulfur they brought from Japan here, and then transported it north by land to Niguzhai on the Liao-Song border, probably the area around Tianjin in later generations. They sold it all to the Liao Kingdom in the border trade area between the two sides.
This middleman made a fortune, almost directly producing the goods from Japan, labeling them as Song Dynasty goods, and then selling them on the border of Liao.
Under such circumstances, the agriculture and economy of the Song Dynasty can be said to have improved rapidly, and economic circulation has grown explosively. Although the Audit Bureau has not yet given growth data, just looking at the tax revenue can show how fast the business is growing.
As a result, the autumn tax of the Song Dynasty this year reached 39 million strings of cash, which was more than 2 million strings of cash higher than the summer tax this year, and the total tax revenue was about 76 million strings of cash.
This figure is still much lower than last year, about 25 million strings of cash less, and compared with previous years, it is about 30 million strings of cash less.
Because since the fourth year of Jingyou, Zhao Jun has been generating income for the court.
Crack down on corruption, confiscate all property of corrupt officials, sell state-owned assets, reform tea plantations and salt fields, etc.
Especially in the latter two areas, a large number of tea plantations and salt fields were privatized, allowing private merchants to participate in the shares in a large number, eliminating the corruption that had previously plagued the state-owned markets, and bringing in more than 10 million strings of cash in revenue to the court every year.
But given that the national agricultural tax has been reduced by two-thirds, this is obviously far beyond expectations.
The five major trade routes that Zhao Jun originally envisioned have begun to take off. This year's total foreign trade revenue is about 27 million guan, maritime trade is close to the peak level of 10 million guan in the Southern Song Dynasty, and land trade has reached 17 million guan. The growth is gratifying.
Although domestic commerce had been restructured, making tax evasion more likely, the tax collectors were no match for the ferocity of the tax collection forces. The imperial court mobilized over 200,000 local troops and imperial guards nationwide, adding over 100,000 from the Imperial City Guards to form a combined law enforcement force.
Almost every county government, the National Tax Bureau, and the Imperial Censorate strictly enforced taxation. Once tax evasion was caught, the offenders would be punished with confiscation of goods and a fine, or even confiscation of all property and imprisonment.
For a time, merchants were in a panic. Except for a few who took risks, the vast majority of merchants paid taxes honestly and became glorious taxpayers.
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