Is the tax rate of 1% in thirty for ocean trade low?
Theoretically low, but not in reality.
Because these are just the obvious taxes, there is also a hidden tax: Ming Yuanbao!
Merchants exchanged goods from the East for a large amount of silver, but they could not take the silver away directly. Instead, they had to exchange it for Ming Yuanbao at the Maritime Customs.
The silver content of a Ming Dynasty round treasure is only nine cents and one cent.
The merchant would lose nine cents of silver as a result.
In other words, the hidden tax rate is nine percent.
The tax rate of thirty percent is 3.3 percent.
Adding the two together, the total tax rate is 12.3 percent!
The tax rate is already not low!
This is also the reason why Chongzhen added ports after promoting the Ming Yuanbao: he wanted to collect hidden taxes through the Ming Yuanbao.
"The Shanghai Port Maritime Customs of Songjiang Prefecture has two more things to do," Chongzhen said to the cabinet members: "First, prohibit the export of grain, sweet potatoes, potatoes, copper, iron and other materials to the sea for trade."
"Second, all the silver earned from the East, West, and South Seas must be exchanged for Ming Yuanbao."
Fan Jingwen thought for a moment and asked, "Your Majesty, there is a six cent profit for each Ming Yuanbao exchange, of which the court takes three cents and the local government retains three cents. Now that the Maritime Customs is in charge of the port, how should the three cents of profit be distributed to the local government?"
"The Maritime Customs takes two cents, and the local government keeps one cent!" Chongzhen answered without hesitation.
If you want the officials of the Maritime Customs to do their job well, the prerequisite is to feed them, so you give them two cents of profit.
The reason for leaving one cent for local governments is that local governments have soldiers, and they can be dispatched in time to quell unrest when it occurs.
Fan Jingwen took note of it carefully, bowed and left.
Chongzhen stretched, then got up and went to the harem to eat and rest.
Time flies and it is August 15th.
Inside Shanhaiguan in Yongping Prefecture, Northern Zhili, Wu Sangui stared at the imperial edict in his hand in silence.
Soon, footsteps were heard outside the door.
"Your Excellency the General, Mr. Fang, General Hu and his son, and General Xia and his son are outside the door asking to see you." Wu Sangui's personal soldier said in a deep voice outside the door.
"Please let them in!" Wu Sangui stood up as he spoke.
With a creak, the door was pushed open from the outside.
Then five people appeared in the field of vision.
Three people stood in front and two stood in the back.
The first three people were Wu Sangui’s confidants.
Standing in the middle is General Hu Xinshui, standing on the left is General Xia Longshan, and standing on the right is strategist Fang Guangchen.
In history, Wu Sangui had three advisers, namely Wang Shirong, Liu Xuanchu and Fang Guangchen.
Wang Shirong had an ominous background. Although he was good at planning, his character was questionable.
He took advantage of his brother's absence on business to have an affair with his sister-in-law, and after being discovered by his stepmother, he got back together with her.
The three of them were supposed to live together, but Wang Shirong's father found out...
In order to avoid being beaten to death by his father, he had to flee to another place for refuge.
On his escape, he met Wu Sangui and took the opportunity to join his army.
Liu Xuanchu first served under the Dashi general Liu Wenxiu. After Liu Wenxiu was defeated by the Qing army, he went to Wu Sangui's camp.
Fang Guangchen is Fang Yizao's son.
Fang Yizhao was a Jinshi during the Tianqi period. He served successively as prefect, chief censor, right vice minister of the Ministry of War, left vice minister of the Ministry of War, and minister of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty.
In order to find someone to speak for him in the court, Wu Sangui simply became a disciple of Fang Yizao, and became close friends with Fang Guangchen (referring to close friends regardless of status or appearance).
At this point in time, Wu Sangui had not met Wang Shirong and Liu Xuanchu, so his only adviser in the strict sense was Fang Guangchen.
However, two of the five people who came were good at planning.
One is Hu Xinshui’s son Hu Guozhu, and the other is Xia Longshan’s son Xia Guoxiang.
In order to win them over, Wu Sangui married his two daughters to them.
They stood behind their fathers, each without saying a word.
Hu Xinshui led the crowd to salute Wu Sangui: "Greetings, General!"
"No need to be polite, please sit down!" Wu Sangui waved his hand and then pointed to the stool.
As everyone sat down, the servants brought tea.
Only after the servant left did Wu Sangui speak.
He handed the imperial edict in his hand to Hu Xinshui and said to everyone, "Everyone, I received the imperial edict a quarter of an hour ago."
"What is the imperial court's order?" Fang Guangchen asked impatiently.
"The court ordered me to go out and inquire about the situation outside the pass. If nothing unexpected happens... the court will recover Liaodong!" Wu Sangui frowned, picked up the teacup in his hand and took a sip of tea.
At this time, Hu Xinshui had finished reading the contents of the imperial edict. He did not say anything, but handed the edict to Xia Longshan.
After reading it, Xia Longshan said nothing and handed the imperial edict to Fang Guangchen.
After Fang Guangchen finished reading it, he continued to pass it on. After everyone had finished reading the imperial edict, Wu Sangui put down his teacup and asked, "Everyone, what should I do?"
Hu Xinshui answered without hesitation: "I think we should act according to the imperial edict and must not disobey it."
"I know," Wu Sangui took a deep breath, "What I want to ask is what should I do when the imperial court counterattacks Liaodong?"
"What can we do? Of course we have to obey orders. Does the general have any other ideas?" Xia Longshan said carelessly.
"Brother Xia, you are wrong. That is not what the general meant!" Advisor Fang Guangchen coughed lightly, "I personally think that the order to the general to go out and get information is false, and the real intention is to let the Jiannu be on guard."
"Why do you think so?" Wu Sangui looked up at Fang Guangchen.
"The imperial court has long regarded the Guanning Army as a thorn in its side, otherwise it would never have secretly ordered Li Xingzhong and Li Xianzhong to build a cavalry of 50,000 people! Once we counterattack Liaodong, the imperial court will definitely send the Guanning Army to the front and use the Jiannu to kill our people!" Fang Guangchen replied.
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