Chongzhen Chat Group

After getting the sketch that Ma San took and sent, Emperor Chongzhen looked at it for a long time. If the sketch was accurate, then the origin of this person with ulterior motives, who could even be said to be bent on sowing discord, might not be simple. Judging from the appearance, he is not a pirate, but more like a shopkeeper or a Shaoxing master.

Emperor Chongzhen was a little confused. Whose order did such a person do this? Who doesn't want the relationship between the Netherlands and Ming Dynasty to ease, so that the Netherlands can conduct normal transactions with Ming Dynasty? To be able to take such a big risk, there must be great interests, or there must be great hatred, right?

Thinking back to the land route, the Dutch envoys returned halfway. Although it seems that the Dutch envoys were suspicious in hindsight, there may not be some unknown factors involved. If the land and sea routes are not a coincidence, then the people behind this have great energy, and it is definitely not a personal vendetta.

Emperor Chongzhen thought of this, and then remembered that in the Xu Xiang incident, judging from Sun Chuanting's report, it seemed that someone was behind the scenes. Thinking this way, he concluded that the resistance to opening the sea was beginning to appear.

Opening the sea was something I never thought would be easy from the beginning. Otherwise, why have emperors and ministers of all dynasties turned a blind eye to such huge profits from opening the sea? Is it really to the point where they regard money as dirt? This is obviously impossible. It can only be because the difficulties are too great and they are overwhelmed!

Emperor Chongzhen thought so, and could not help but have a deeper understanding of the difficulties of successfully opening the sea. For him, if he wants to truly revive the Ming Dynasty, catch up in this era of great navigation, and stand at the top of the world again, then the opening of the sea must be successful.

Thinking of this, he sent an order to the Supervisor of Ceremonies to move all the archived memorials related to the opening of the sea, including the approvals and retentions, and prepared to go through them again.

This time the opening of the sea was proposed by He Qiaoyuan, presided over by Wen Tiren, and implemented by Sun Chuanting. Logically speaking, these are capable ministers and should be able to do things well. However, judging from the current actual situation, Emperor Chongzhen felt that he still overestimated their abilities because he ignored a common shortcoming among them, which was the limitations of the times and the limitations of their vision.

For example, this time, when Liu Guoneng was treating the Dutch, even though he was a former bandit, he still had a condescending attitude towards the Hongyi, and was not polite to them in his words and actions.

It's not that you can't do this. When the Dutch invaded the Ming Dynasty, you could do it like this, no need to be polite; but when the Dutch came to do business, it would be bad to be so arrogant. After all, doing business is mutually beneficial. If a business is ruined, Ming Dynasty will also be harmed. Those who are capable should strive for as much benefit as possible for Ming Dynasty within the rules of the game in transactions with the Dutch at this time. This is the most correct thing.

This sense of superiority towards the Western Yi was not only shared by Liu Guo, but also by Sun Chuanting, and even ordinary people in the Ming Dynasty. This was the limitation of the times and the limitation of vision.

Emperor Chongzhen continued to read the memorial while thinking about things. No, he was holding a memorial in his hand to open the sea to collect taxes. The contents written in this memorial are actually based on the past examples of the brief opening of the sea during the Longqing period.

The Governor's Rate Office, also known as the Customs in later generations, collected tariffs on imports and exports, which included three parts, namely, imported taxes, water rates, and land rates.

The so-called tax diversion is actually ship diversion. Ocean-going ships, regardless of whether they are east or west, will collect six taels of silver. Inshore ships, such as those going to chicken coops in Taiwan, and freshwater ships will collect two taels of silver per bow.

The so-called rates are commercial taxes levied on exported goods and are paid by shipping merchants. For Western-style ships with a breadth of one foot or more, five taels of silver are collected for each bow ship, and for each additional foot of breadth, five qian of silver is charged. Ships going to the East were relatively small, so the levy was only seven-tenths of that of Western ships. Freshwater ships were even smaller, so the rate was 5 cents for one foot wide.

Lu rates are commercial taxes levied on Jinkou goods and are paid by merchants. Taxes are mainly collected based on the quantity and value of goods. For example, pepper, sappan wood and other goods are worth one or two cents of silver, and the land rate is two cents of silver.

There is another special thing. Most of the ships going to Luzon return empty ships, with no cargo, only silver. In this case, it would be difficult to levy land rates. As a result, there was an additional method called increased pay, with each ship paying one hundred and twenty taels of silver.

This method of collection can only collect about 20,000 taels of tax revenue a year. Just as He Qiaoyuan said in the memorial, this is far from the goal expected by Emperor Chongzhen. Of course, most of the reasons here are caused by tax evasion by officials and gentry. If Sun Chuanting is left alone, judging from his current performance, he should be able to solve this matter.

However, to be honest, Emperor Chongzhen was not satisfied with the taxation method during the Longqing period. However, everything is difficult at the beginning, so it is only for Fujian to start in this way. The place where Emperor Chongzhen intervened was that the grain shipped by special order was not taxed. In addition, a state-owned trading company will be established to carry out docking trade, but this matter has not yet been established.

According to a common understanding of later generations, taxation must affect the entry and exit of commodity types. If the country needs it, import will be encouraged; if the country does not need it, export will be encouraged, etc. There are also various commodities, and different taxes are levied according to different values. And these, in fact, do not mean that you can get an ideal result by sitting in the Forbidden City and listening to what is said below.

Thinking like this, an idea suddenly popped up in Emperor Chongzhen's mind. And after this idea appeared, it was like the temptation of the devil, and I could no longer abandon this idea.

At night, Emperor Chongzhen was a little absent-minded even when he was interacting with Concubine Tian. Concubine Tian was so smart and so sensitive at this time, she felt it immediately. When she was curled up on Emperor Chongzhen's chest, she touched Emperor Chongzhen's chest, seeming a little aggrieved, and her chest was soaked with tears.

Emperor Chongzhen felt it soon. He looked down and couldn't help being surprised. He quickly helped her wipe away her tears and asked in surprise: "What's wrong? Who bullied you? As far as I know, it seems that the Queen is no longer feeling sad." You?"

"Your Majesty, Sister Zhou is very kind to me!" Concubine Tian raised her head and looked at Emperor Chongzhen. With tears in her beautiful big eyes, she whispered, "Has your majesty fallen in love with another sister? Concubine. It’s a rare occasion to wait for His Majesty, but His Majesty is so absent-minded!”

"..." After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen was stunned for a while. When he came back to his senses, he understood what was going on. He couldn't help but reach out and lift Concubine Tian's chin, and said with a smile: "My beloved, do you want to know?"

Thanks for the tip from my dedicated little daughter-in-law!