New Shun 1730

Although his words were somewhat sarcastic, Liu Yu could actually understand their complaints.

At best, this is called the enlightenment and awakening of human nature.

Knowing how to pursue one's own interests, knowing the unity of rights and obligations, regardless of good or bad, is also part of the Enlightenment: Why should we pay? Is it natural to pay taxes and money?

From what Lian Fuguang meant, it seemed that there were a series of reasons for this.

For example, if social welfare is handled by government departments, it will weaken the importance of clans, which in fact means disintegrating clans.

For example, charity and social welfare are not the same thing and cannot be confused. Moreover, in Dashun, people who make donations can get various preferential treatment, such as becoming a supervisor. But here, even Fuguang and others do not pay taxes and do not need such preferential treatment.

And the most important cultural conflict is that asking dead people to collect taxes will cause great dissatisfaction among the Chinese.

According to what Lian Fuguang said, it was not the highest-ranking Chinese who opposed the workhouse. It seemed that the middle-class Chinese in the city also opposed it.

Liu Yu was a little confused as to whether this was true or not.

Just like the policy introduced by Qiu Zuguan, which required 25 cents to be paid for the burial of slaves and slaves in the house, after all, the seven or eight thousand Chinese in Batavia had slaves in their homes, which touched me. interests?

Or is it really because of the concept of "the dead are the most important" and that it is wrong to make money from the dead, so that the whole city is angry and no one carries the coffin?

Or is Lian Fuguang not telling the truth at all, saying that he represents the seven or eight thousand middle- and lower-class Chinese in the city who have residence permits?

He was muttering in his heart, but Lian Fuguang saw Liu Yu sticking out his thumb and praising him for being justified, and hurriedly said: "Your Excellency, this is ridiculous. We Tang people have our own civilization, and many things are not the same as those of Westerners."

"The main reason is that the inheritance tax and the mandatory charity donation based on the percentage of assets are really incompatible with the Tang Dynasty and full of contradictions. It is really bad governance."

"We are very gentle, so we ask you to talk to the governor to exempt this tax and explain the pros and cons. It is true that people in the Tang Dynasty don't like having to pay money after death. If we insist on implementing this policy, I'm afraid there will be chaos in the future. ”

Liu Yu was already suspicious. He always felt that there was something wrong with what Lian Fuguang said. Even if he didn't dare to tell lies, he certainly didn't tell the whole story.

"When did the Dutch start deducting five thousandths from their inheritance and investing it in workhouses to support widows and widowers who had no means of food and clothing?"

Lian Fuguang gritted his teeth and said, "Sir, it's just these few months. It's still because of the chaos caused by bandits outside the city."

"Due to the bandit revolt outside the city, the governor was quite worried and believed that the living conditions of the Tang people should be improved. Otherwise, the Tang people might be more likely to join the Wu Shirt Party and become bandits."

"In the past, tens of thousands of people were outside the city, and they could not manage it with little money. Now the court wants to immigrate a large number of people to Ceylon to find a way to survive, and there are not many left."

"But people from the Tang Dynasty are going to Nanyang more and more, and sooner or later people will continue to pour in. Bandits are rampant outside the city. If the living conditions of the lower class are not improved and some benefits are provided, I am afraid that they will all join the bandits. Or they will come out again in the future. Riot thing."

"We are not against charity for the poor, but can we allow this money to come from various taxes?"

When Liu Yu heard this, he said oh, thinking that this should be the legendary [because we have been here]?

The rebels outside the city let the Netherlands know that the treatment of the Chinese at the bottom still needs to be slightly improved, otherwise it will be easy to pull the lever and revolt.

If there is no workhouse, then follow the thieves?

However, Lian Fuguang and others still have illusions about the Dutch. They are companies and they want to make profits. How can they use the various taxes collected to invest in social welfare?

Now it is meaningless whether the Dutch do charity or improve the lives of the people at the bottom.

It's too late.

Even if you do it, it will be of no use.

Moreover, they are stingy and reluctant to use the taxes collected to subsidize social welfare. Instead, they are thinking of forcing the middle and upper classes to donate money, which just happens to offend the middle and upper classes, which is a good thing.

But stones from other mountains can attack jade.

Judging from Lian Fuguang's statement, this system of establishing almshouses seems to be quite avant-garde.

Kind of like a trust fund, a charity fund. If the heir is young and underage after his death, he will receive an annuity from the inheritance and inherit the full amount of the inheritance when he reaches adulthood. If it can be done well, it seems to be not bad, and it will prevent the clan from being exterminated and dividing the property.

In addition, we rely on the property money to make money, maintain operations, and continue charity. From decades ago to now, there must be some tricks, right? You can learn from it.

But according to what Lian Fuguang said, it doesn't seem to be very successful. It seems that everyone is opposed to it?

In the future, when we take over Nanyang, we cannot abandon all the policies of the old era. We must remove the dross and adopt the best.

If this method is really useful, it can be retained.

I also knew in my heart that based on the words of these people, there would only be three or two lies among the ten sentences, so I said: "Well, you lead the way and take me to the court. The court is responsible for these charitable people. What’s it called?”

"Sir, this is [weeskamer], we are called Wu Zhimi."

"Oh, let's go there together. I'll go over there and take a look at the workhouse's account books."

"Yes, sir, please come this way."

After replying, he took the initiative to lead the way and led Liu Yu and others to the Chinese Court in Batavia.

Outside the court hall, two wooden plaques hang.

[The public is equal, and the equal is the public's judge of justice; the public is the same, and matters are discussed in the same hall. Those who work in court must serve the public and serve the people diligently. Anyone who is beneficial to the public should consult and plan for it, and take measures to celebrate the scholarly society. 】

[Emotions have their true and false, and things have their right and wrong. They cannot be judged in court and judged accordingly. 】

Although it is not as grand as the county government office in Dashun, it is just a large-scale residential building, but the words on the wooden sign outside the court are already somewhat meaningful.

On the table in the lobby, there is a thick set of "Great Rules", and on top of it is a set of "Batavia Law Collection".

Maybe he didn't expect Liu Yu to come, so Lian Fuguang quickly put the Batavia law collection aside and no longer placed it on top of the "Dashun Law".

But Liu Yu had already seen it and asked: "Do you usually judge cases according to the "Dashun Law"?"

"Exactly."

"If there is a conflict between the "Great Rules" and Batavia's laws, who will listen to them? Are the Celestial Empire and Batavia better?"

This was a life-threatening question, and even Fuguang didn't dare to answer it. He thought to himself, "Aren't you just looking for trouble?"

As for that?

Liu Yu smiled, sat on the table in the main hall, shook the "Da Shun Lv" that he had never read, flipped through a few pages, and threw it aside.

He said in his heart that people had to bow their heads when they were under the eaves. The imperial court had no ability to conquer Nanyang. If they really criticized these people for forgetting their ancestors and making the Batavia law higher than the Great Shun law, then it would be just standing up and talking without pain. .

"Where's Wu Zhimi? Bring the account book of the workhouse, I want to take a look."

The current Wuzhi fan hurriedly brought over the thick account, which was of course all written in Chinese characters.

Liu Yu opened it and looked at it for about half an hour, and finally figured out something about it, and asked: "The Wu Zhi fan Qiu Zuguan you mentioned before who had no one to carry the coffin after his death, in what year did he become a Wu Zhi fan?"

"My lord, the year is 1705 in the Western calendar."

Liu Yu looked through the account book to 1705 and found that this account book almost took 1706 as the watershed.

Before 1706, most of the money entered into the account were donated on their own initiative, which shows that the Chinese did not think only of themselves, as Lian Fuguang said, but they also had compassion and were willing to do charity.

It can range from dozens of guilders to three or five copper coins, or even one or two copper coins.

But starting in 1706, the accounts were suddenly wrong and the income increased sharply.

There are densely appearing "donations" for marriages; "donations" after death; "donations" for burning paper; monopolizing graveyards and selling tombs, and other incomes.

However, Lian Fuguang said that "25 cents must be spent to buy a cemetery after a slave dies." The income only accounts for a small part. It seems that among the seven or eight thousand Chinese in the city, not many families have slaves.

After shaking the ledger, Liu Yu asked: "Did any new regulations come out in 1706?"

"Back to your lord, at that time there were many scoundrels in the Tang Dynasty. They often used the pretext of divorce to default on part of the accounts. Therefore, Kapitan, Lei Zhenlan, and Wuzhimi often made suggestions to the governor. In that year, there were regulations that all Tang people must Marriage must be registered in Kapitan, and Kapitan will issue a marriage certificate. For every marriage, 20 coins must be donated to the workhouse.”

He only said half of what he said, and the other half was that he had to give Kapitan "happy money" because only the big seal in Kapitan's hand can be pressed on the marriage certificate. Without giving money, you can't get married. This is not the cost of production, but the "legitimate" income of Kapitan.

Liu Yu sneered and said: "Before 1706, there was no money donated for marriage. In other words, starting from 1706, you have to 'donate' money for marriage, right?"

"Lian Fuguang, Lian Fuguang, you are half telling the truth. According to what you said, I thought that all the Tang people in Batavia had slaves and were extremely wealthy, so they hated Qiu Zuguan for this."

"This is when he was a fan of Wu Zhi. He had to donate money when he got married, when he died, and when he burned paper."

"Qiu Zuguan had a clever name, and no one carried his coffin after his death. It's not unfair at all."

"Don't say that there is no one to carry the coffin. If you dare to do this in the Celestial Dynasty, the monument will hold your shit on it after you die. It is light to have no one to carry the coffin!"

"How can you tell me that people in the Tang Dynasty hate not to carry Qiu Zuguan's coffin because they are opposed to the clash of civilizations of "collecting money after death"? There are not many slaves in the account book."

"Are you using me as a weapon? In the name of 'cultural conflict', what you really want to say is inheritance tax? You tell me that the people did not carry Qiu Zuguan's coffin because the slaves were paid to bury them after they died. , this cultural conflict about collecting money after death has caused public outrage? If the Netherlands does not cancel the inheritance tax, will the people be resentful? "

"Is it because Qiu Zuguan has a clever reputation and has to 'donate' money when he gets married and has children, that everyone hates him so much that they don't carry his coffin?"

There was a loud bang on the table, and Lian Fuguang and others were so frightened that they knelt there directly, with cold sweat dripping from their backs, and lowered their heads without daring to speak.

He really didn't expect that the imperial envoy would actually come to see these messy account books, and actually see problems from the account books.

I was sweating for a while, and I couldn't think of anything to say, so I could only kowtow as if pounding garlic.

Liu Yu squeezed his aching head and thought to himself that he really can't count on you at all.

"Okay, stop knocking. I'm most annoyed by people who only half-talk. Zhang San ate pork, Zhang San also drank poison, and Zhang San died. So, Zhang San died because of eating pork?"

"You are not a straightforward person. Why don't you just say that you don't want to pay the tax? You have to find a high-sounding reason and drag in seven or eight thousand Chinese to make it seem like the people want it."

"You guys, you can't do anything."

After saying that, he shook his head with some regret, thinking that there is nothing to learn from this welfare system. This is another standard case of trying to find a sword by carving a boat.

The original intention of Guo Junguan, who started this matter, must have been good.

It has a bit of the meaning of a trust fund and a charitable foundation, but it is probably because he heard about some European policies and had the unique benevolence and righteousness of Confucian scholars. But the step is a bit too big and it's a joke.

In Europe, especially in the Netherlands, there are all kinds of stocks and speculation. As long as you have money, you can find a few venture capitalists with higher means at the Amsterdam Futures and Stock Exchange, or buy stocks, or buy overseas land, or buy plantations, which can really make money.

If it happened in the early days of the South Sea Bubble and the early days of the Mississippi Company incident, maybe silver coins would really turn into gold bricks.

The problem is that in Batavia, doing this thing is just taking a big step and breaking the egg?

How dare a place without even a stock exchange to set up a trust fund and a charity fund?

How can money make money?

This is a typical example of not considering the economic foundation and different conditions, just doing it without thinking, and finally turning a good thing into a bad thing.

Without the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, what trust fund is there?

In the end, it will definitely become another kind of heavy taxes and levies that borrow administrative power to force charity.

For the affairs of Nanyang, we can neither copy the rule of Dashun in the Central Plains nor copy the rule of the Netherlands in Nanyang. We can only find another way and start a new one.

Tax package is definitely not an option. The only welfare system of "Wu Zhi fans" that sounds good and seems to be worth learning is also a product of pure nonsense.

Looking at Kapitan, Lei Zhenlan and others who were still kneeling and kowtowing, Liu Yu thought to himself that you have shattered my last bit of fantasy. I shouldn't have thought about you and my compatriots and had a little fantasy about you.

Come on, smash everything and start over, Nanyang!

Thinking of this, he threw the account book to the ground, no longer cared about the people kneeling on the ground, and walked out of the court surrounded by guards.