Chapter 764: Make full use of the advantages of the Japanese (fourth update, please subscribe)
Tokugawa Shigenari is dead!
He and his tens of thousands of troops died at the foot of the mountain before they even escaped into the mountain. The speed of their defeat far exceeded people's imagination.
Just as Tokugawa Shigemitsu's head was chopped off by his subordinates and was on the way to Tokyo.
Emperor Zhu has begun preparing to leave Japan and return to the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, before leaving, the final structure and personnel arrangements of the Dongying Protectorate must be arranged.
The Protectorate of Japan was similar to the Protectorate of the Ming Dynasty. The Protectorate of Japan was directly under the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and had full power over the military, legislative, administrative and judicial affairs of the four islands of Japan. Under the Protectorate, there were the Director of Government Affairs, the Protectorate Office, the General Affairs Department, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry, and the Ministry of Justice. In addition, there were the Central Council, the Ministry of Police, the Court and the Railway Department.
Many of the people in these departments were officials of the Reform Government. After all, this was also a reward for those who had made contributions. Of course, many positions were held by officials from the Ming Dynasty.
The reason why Qian Degong was appointed as the Protector General is also clear.
Since ancient times, the first thing that local officials like him who hold military and political power, especially those who live overseas, must do is to be loyal.
As for loyalty, Qian Degong certainly has no problem with it. After all, he was rescued from the gold mine by Emperor Zhu the Great. He was a founding immigrant and a core member of Nanhua's family. There was no problem with his loyalty. Moreover, he was also the Minister of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce in the Ming Dynasty.
By making him the Protector General, no matter how you look at it, it is clear that the Ming Dynasty was preparing to develop industry and commerce in Japan... Of course, this was just the assumption of the outside world, and it was just a false impression given to the Japanese.
"industry!"
Shaking his head, Emperor Zhu said.
"From a resource perspective, Japan is not suitable for developing industry, and developing industry does not meet our requirements. What do we need? Of course, an agricultural Japan. The poorer the Japanese are, the more they want to go abroad to make a living. Men go to Africa to work as coolies, and women go to Ming Dynasty to be wives. In a word, at least in the next 30 years, we do not need an industrialized Japan."
Industrial Japan?
Is it possible?
If Japan was industrialized and the Japanese could easily find a job in Japan, how could they be willing to contribute their meager efforts to the Ming Dynasty's African cause as consumables of the empire?
If Japanese women could work as bonded laborers in Japan, how could they travel to the Ming Dynasty, marry Ming men, and bear children for the Ming Dynasty?
Therefore, Japan's impoverishment is an inevitable choice. Of course, Japan also needs some industries, such as a certain shipbuilding capacity. After all, this will be the most important naval base of the Ming Dynasty in the future.
There is a certain ability to repair and build ships, which is to serve the Ming Navy. Otherwise, the Ming Navy cannot be stationed in Japan and have to travel thousands of miles back to Ming for repairs and maintenance.
"Your Majesty, if this is the case, the current taxes on farmers must not be reduced!"
Qian Degong said directly.
"The 3% tax rate set by the previous reform government when implementing the "land rent reform" is very high, but from the perspective of poverty reduction, it is absolutely appropriate! We were originally planning to lower it appropriately, after all, we always have to win people's hearts. 3%, this tax rate is really too high!"
Is 3% high?
This ratio may seem low, but it is actually very high because the "land rent reform" levies taxes based on a certain percentage of the land price rather than on crop output. This avoids changes in taxes due to good or bad harvests, allowing the government to ensure stable income.
Such a high tax rate is absolutely shocking. In 1893, before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Japan had about 72 million mu of cultivated land. The central government's fiscal revenue that year was 88.2 million yen, equivalent to 57 million taels of silver, of which land tax accounted for 75.2%, or 42.75 million taels, or almost 60 million silver dollars. In other words, every mu of cultivated land in Japan had to bear a burden of nearly one silver dollar!
In 1891, the Qing Dynasty's fiscal revenue was 89 million taels, and the land tax was 33 million taels. At that time, the cultivated land area of the Qing Dynasty was about 1.2 billion mu. In other words, Japan obtained 127% of the Qing Dynasty's land tax revenue with 6% of the Qing Dynasty's cultivated land area.
If we use Japan as the standard, even if we reduce the collection by half, we can still collect about 500 million in land tax.
In terms of the extreme exploitation of farmers, Japan is definitely the best in the world! This is also the reason for the Meiji Restoration in Japan - by exploiting the country to the extreme, it gained the capital to strengthen the military.
"Oh, Sanshi, how can you be so short-sighted?"
Emperor Zhu sighed.
"As a benevolent monarch, how can I oppress the people like this? Since Japan has become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, the people should be allowed to feel the warmth of the Ming Dynasty instead of the same tyranny as in the past. Otherwise, how can they feel the difference between the Ming Dynasty and the past? Hmm..."
After thinking for a while, Emperor Zhu said a number.
"0.5%, reduce it by 0.5%, and levy tax at 2.5% of the land price!"
Look how merciful Emperor Zhu was. He reduced the tax burden by 15% right from the start. This was definitely a benevolent policy that won the hearts and minds of Japanese farmers.
In fact, after the implementation of the land rent reform, the burden on farmers increased, and many lands were confiscated by the government due to difficulties in paying taxes. This directly led to the continuous occurrence of riots. Therefore, in order to prevent the combination of samurai rebellion and peasant riots, Okubo reduced the tax rate to 2.5% in 1877.
The 2.5% of the other world was bought with tens of thousands of lives. Now it has become the benevolent government of the Ming Dynasty. Of course, this burden is also extremely heavy for the Japanese. The difference now is that in the past, three daughters had to be sold, but now only two are needed.
"Your Majesty, in this case, what about the poor people?"
Qian Degong's brows were furrowed.
"Isn't it easy to make the people poor? Use imported rice to lower food prices. If food prices drop by 10%, farmers' income will decrease by 10%. That is more fatal than reducing taxes. Besides, this is purely a commercial behavior. As for import companies, we can set up a few companies specializing in imported rice and use them as the government's white gloves."
Emperor Zhu naturally had his own way of dealing with the "poor people", and of course, he also believed that Qian Degong would definitely have his own way.
After all, he was a scholar, and he learned the five methods of ruling the people from Shang Yang: weakening the people, impoverishing the people, exhausting the people, humiliating the people, and making the people stupid. The dynasty that used these five methods most skillfully was, of course, the Qing Dynasty.
When it comes to weak, poor, tired, humiliated, and ignorant people, our Qing Dynasty is undoubtedly number one.
Don't feel sorry for the Japanese farmers. They sold their daughters to brothels to pay taxes, but at the same time they supported Japan's invasion of China and sang praises for the aggression.
"When a country is weak, its people are strong. When people are weak, the country is strong. Although we cannot adopt all of Shang Yang's five methods of governing the people, we can still use one or two of them. For example, as for the poor, what we need is a Japan that is impoverished and grateful to the Ming Dynasty. You can do more work on how to implement this. And..."
After thinking for a while, Emperor Zhu emphasized again.
"The Japanese are a nation without a sense of nation. In future education, we need to downplay Japan's sense of nation and strengthen Ming's sense of nation. At the same time, what should we do? We should increase the differences between regions. A unified Japan is not conducive to Ming's rule. In addition to artificially creating regional divisions, it can also create conflicts among people, such as the conflict between civilians and samurai..."
In the following hours, the topic that Emperor Zhu and Qian Degong talked about most was how to rule Japan. No, it should be said that how to split Japan from a whole into multiple individuals. After all, the Protectorate was just a transitional organization. In the end, Japan would be divided into several provinces, and by that time, Japan would naturally cease to exist.
He will exist only as a noun in history. Even so, it depends on the mood of the Ming Dynasty. If the mood is bad, even the noun will no longer exist.
Finally, Emperor Zhu looked at him earnestly and said.
"Sanshi, you are my trusted minister and my Protector General of the Western Regions. You must understand my thoughts. What should I rely on to govern this land? I must rely on the Legalists and rule the country by law. You must understand what this law is!"
Looking at Qian Degong, Emperor Zhu laughed.
"You have to know that the Japanese have a very strong tolerance. In this case, we should make full use of this advantage of theirs."
"I understand!"
When Qian Degong nodded vigorously, his eyes were full of desire. After all, he was the first Protector-General of the Western Regions of the Ming Dynasty... No, he was the Protector-General of Japan!
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
