This early morning meeting ended at 9:00 PM.
But this morning meeting released several extremely important signals:
His Majesty did not alienate Fu Xiaoguan because of his identity, but instead valued him even more!
So it seems that as long as Fu Xiaoguan does not leave Yu Dynasty, he will definitely have a bright future.
Of course, if he left the Yu Dynasty, he would become the ruler of the Wu Dynasty.
Therefore, many officials shared the common belief that they should maintain a good relationship with Fu Xiaoguan no matter what.
The tax reduction policy to boost business has been clearly announced to the world, which means that the conservatives headed by Qin Huizhi have been completely defeated. So we must take advantage of this opportunity to get our family or the merchants under our command to take action.
I heard that Fu Xiaoguan's Xishan industry has now been expanded to Pingling and Quyi counties. This kid has run ahead again, so I have to catch up quickly.
After all, in the vast Yu Dynasty, only six counties have been included in the pilot program. When the news spreads throughout the world and all merchants in the world flock to it, if it is too late, I am afraid you won’t even be able to get a sip of soup.
The most excited among these officials was Li Cai.
He is now in his early forties and has worked in the Ministry of Revenue's Finance Department for a full twenty years before he was promoted to the position of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.
At heart, he is a businessman. His father runs the largest Baolong Money House in the Yu Dynasty, his elder brother Li Jia runs the largest pawnshop in Shangjing, Xinglongtang, and his third brother Li Wan runs the largest jade shop in Shangjing, Yudinglou. His fourth brother Li Guan is also the head manager of Huichuntang.
Li Cai had known Fu Xiaoguan since last year. At that time, Fu Xiaoguan had just arrived in Beijing. Because of his disaster relief work, His Majesty appointed him as a fifth-rank civil servant, but he was also allowed to work in the Ministry of Revenue.
In Li Cai's opinion, His Majesty has already sent a signal that Fu Xiaoguan will be of great use in the future.
I was right. Fu Xiaoguan has risen and is unstoppable!
He actually wanted to meet my father... I think it was because of the new policy, and he wanted to ask my father about the inflow and outflow or allocation of silver and money.
Of course this matter had to be done well, so he left the court and hurried back home.
However, after the court was dismissed, Fu Xiaoguan was once again kept by His Majesty. He followed His Majesty to the Imperial Study, accompanied by Yan Beixi and Dong Kangping.
Two fathers-in-law and one father-in-law’s father… Fu Xiaoguan followed behind, feeling rather uneasy. Could it be because the wedding banquet was too casual?
He was naturally overthinking it. In the Imperial Study, Emperor Xuan sat before the Dragon Platform. Looking at Fu Xiaoguan, he asked, "Prime Minister Yan and I are thinking of adding twenty more pilot counties and prefectures at the beginning of next year. However, Minister Dong thinks this is inappropriate, believing it's too hasty and that we should proceed gradually. So, I'm asking you, what are your thoughts?"
Fu Xiaoguan was stunned. These words were really offensive. You are the emperor, you can do whatever you want!
But after thinking for a moment, he still said what he was thinking, "I think we should compromise!"
Emperor Xuan was surprised and asked, "How can we find a compromise?"
"I believe we can add ten new counties next year."
Yan Beixi frowned and asked doubtfully, "From Yao County's perspective, this strategy is fine. Judging from what you've done in Pingling and Quyi, this strategy not only solved the wintering problem for the people in both places, but also laid the foundation for a better momentum next year. Why can't we increase it a little more?"
"I believe this is because only Xishan is currently operating in these three counties, so the drawbacks of this policy are not apparent. Today, His Majesty issued an edict exempting merchants of a certain size from taxes for three years... Your Majesty, Prime Minister Yan, and Father-in-law Dong, just wait and see. Many merchants will flock to these six locations to make large-scale investments."
"Isn't this a good thing? This strategy is designed to get these businessmen moving!"
"Replying to Yan Zai, it's right to let them take action, but don't underestimate the merchants. Our supervision can't keep up, and they will find loopholes and exploit them crazily."
Emperor Xuan frowned. Supervision...it seemed like he hadn't thought about this yet.
Yan Zai pondered for a moment and asked, "What kind of loophole will appear?"
"For example, I invested 100,000 taels of silver in Pingling and recruited 100 workers. This met the requirements for three years of tax exemption, right? The Pingling County Government naturally had to grant me tax exemption. But then you came to me, my father-in-law's father, and asked me to sell your products through my workshop. Of course, I had no choice but to agree. Your products were sold just like that, and you received the preferential treatment of full tax exemption, but you didn't invest a penny in Pingling."
“Is this a loophole?”
Yan Beixi was stunned, and he immediately thought of a lot of things. Not to mention the whole country, if even the merchants in Jiangnan evaded taxes through this method, the tax losses of the court would be unbearable. If all the merchants in the country did this... how much tax revenue would there be next year?
Emperor Xuan looked at Yan Beixi, and the two of them looked at each other, and then they realized that there was such a serious disadvantage.
"That's just one aspect..." Fu Xiaoguan continued, "There are other aspects, such as whether the investment structure in each place is reasonable."
"Let's take a simple example. I've set up many workshops in Pingling, which require 40,000 workers. Currently, there are roughly 80,000 workers in the entire Pingling area, but we can't have all of them work in the workshops because the fields still need to be cultivated."
"That's perfect. I'll recruit 40,000 farmers from Pingling, and the remaining 40,000 will be employed in agricultural production. That's just right. But if more merchants come and open more workshops, leading to a huge increase in the number of workers... the fields will inevitably become barren - people will all be busy working in the workshops to earn cash, so who will have the heart to tend to the crops?"
"Once this is implemented everywhere, in just three to five years, we will find that rural areas in many places will gradually wither. As time goes on, many villages may even disappear."
"These farmers who went to work in the workshops did earn some money, and their living standards did improve, but... when business went down, they wanted to return to the countryside, but they found themselves homeless."
"Looking further ahead, even if business continues to thrive, their descendants will follow the same path. When the workshops in their own county are full, they will move to other counties, leaving their hometowns for years. Countless villages will disappear, and the prices of food and daily necessities will inevitably rise. However, these second-generation farmers will never be able to return to the countryside - they don't even have the basic farming skills. They've become accustomed to making quick money, and no one wants to go back to tend to the barren land."
"Also, disorderly investment will only lead to the same products. You and I both weave cloth and make clothes... but who will sell all the clothes in the market in the end?"
"Therefore, what the court needs to do now is not to add more pilot programs, but to avoid all foreseeable business malpractices. This requires early regulation!"
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