The Ming Dynasty started with caution

Corruption cannot be eradicated in any dynasty.

However, if the salary is not enough to support life, it will force the originally honest people to have evil thoughts.

The salary has been raised, and the phenomenon of corruption may still exist, but it will relatively improve the overall environment and make the tax system of the Ming Dynasty relatively clean.

Xie Qian is worried: "The land tax can be collected in silver because of the yellow book and the fish scale map. The court knows how much silver to collect, but the court does not know how much goods the passing merchants have. How to ensure that the tax supervisor does not embezzle."

"This is to talk about a new bill, which I call a tax bill. After the tax collector collects the silver, he can issue one to the merchant and keep another one. When the time comes, we will know."

The Ming Dynasty has a road permit system. Merchants escorting goods out of the prefecture and county need to show the road permit, and the road permit will write the amount of goods.

The road permit system plus the invoice can guarantee the implementation of the new commercial law to a certain extent.

No matter how bad it is, it will not be worse than the current tax payment in goods.

To pay taxes with goods, the local government had to send people to transport these large quantities of miscellaneous goods to Taicang.

Among them, the customs duties and the expenses of hiring workers were all borne by themselves.

On the contrary, the more commercial taxes were paid, the poorer the prefectures and counties became.

Liu Jian said: "I think what Yan Chengjin said makes sense, but where does the money come from?"

"Of course it is commercial taxes. There are thousands of times more merchants in the world than in Liangxiang. If the old system can be changed and the money can be collected, it will not be a problem to raise the salaries of officials in the world. Moreover, now that the Red Barbarian General has been transported to the border, the Ming Dynasty will not have border defense problems for the time being, and a lot of expenses can be saved."

Fighting is very expensive.

Not only do the soldiers on the border need to update their equipment and replenish military rations, but more importantly, the soldiers who originally cultivated the land have to wear armor, and the fields are barren and no one is cultivating them.

The purpose of Yan Chengjin's advice to hold the Hongzhi Hunting is to deter neighboring countries and allow the Ming Dynasty to develop steadily for the time being.

After exchanging iron with neighboring countries, merchants had more foreign grain.

This is another important prerequisite for the implementation of the new commercial law.

The important reason why the Ming Dynasty had no silver was that the commercial tax could not be collected. Even though it would be difficult at the beginning, if the system was not reformed, the silver would never be collected.

No one in the court was a fool.

Liu Jian shook his head: "The people who will resist the implementation of the new commercial law are not the tax supervisors and tax collectors, but the merchants and gentry. How do you know they are willing to pay silver?"

This move harms the interests of the gentry, not the interests of the tax supervisors and tax collectors.

Liangxiang is different from other counties. Liangxiang has many novel things. Merchants and gentry flocked to Liangxiang. Paying commercial taxes is to get greater benefits. They can earn more silver by transporting Liangxiang's novel things to other places for sale.

And there is only one Liangxiang in the world.

"Of course, we have to benefit the merchants. We only collect commercial taxes, and no more taxes such as door stall taxes. We still collect one in thirty taxes, but we collect silver. Although the gentry are treated preferentially in the local area, they have to pay a lot of taxes when they transport goods to other states and counties. If the court removes these extra taxes, the gentry will pay less silver, so they will be happy." Yan Chengjin said.

Except for a very small number of individual gentry whose face can be eaten from south to north, other gentry are actually no different from ordinary merchants when they leave the state and county.

If a ship of goods is transported by canal, it will still cost a lot of money from south to north.

Raise the salaries of officials to benefit them.

Cut the extra tariffs and commercial taxes for the gentry, and the merchants will also benefit.

In this way, the implementation of the new commercial law will be much less helpful.

Although the commercial taxes collected now are relatively low, when the Ming Dynasty prospers in the future and the per capita level rises, the commercial taxes can be gradually increased.

In this way, the court can benefit.

The hall fell into silence.

Emperor Hongzhi was very smart, Li Dongyang was very smart, Han Wen and others were also smart, there was no fool in the court.

But being smart does not mean that you can come up with a new commercial law.

Yan Chengjin couldn't think of it either. This was just the crystallization of the wisdom of thousands of people in later generations and the result of practice. Looking back, it is always easy.

Life is only a few decades long, and it is impossible to tell whether a system is good or bad.

Emperor Hongzhi and Li Dongyang and others have no way to judge, but Yan Chengjin is a time traveler. He can turn over the history of five thousand years without having to witness it with his life.

Yan Chengjin looked up at Emperor Hongzhi slightly, and saw that he was in deep thought. He said it was easy, but it was not easy to make up his mind to implement it.

But it was not impossible. The Hongzhi Dynasty was different from the Zhengde Dynasty. The emperor still held great power, and the situation of civil officials banding together was not as serious as that of Jiaqing and Wanli.

In the Jiajing and Wanli Dynasties, if such a commercial law was to be implemented, it could only be implemented by fierce means and countless people bleeding.

The Hongzhi Dynasty was still relatively clear, and many ministers in the court were reasonable.

"I have said everything I want to say, please leave."

Emperor Hongzhi nodded, and Yan Chengjin slowly left the hall.

Now his position in your majesty's heart is not far from that of the six ministries and nine ministers, because he is too cautious...

What I said today will definitely affect the state of mind of Emperor Hongzhi.

The interests of Emperor Hongzhi's ministers are inconsistent.

The rest is your majesty's battle alone...

In the hall, only Emperor Hongzhi and the six ministries and nine ministers of the cabinet are left.

Emperor Hongzhi broke the silence: "I have said everything I should say. I just want to ask you one question. What do you think?"

Han Wen, Liu Jian and other ministers knelt on the ground: "I think it is not possible. It is unprecedented to increase the salaries of officials all over the world. Moreover, the Ministry of Revenue spends so much money. What if the commercial tax cannot collect the money..."

He is the Minister of Revenue. Where does this money come from? Yan Chengjin did not explain clearly.

Where can he find so much money?

And he has to reserve a sum of military pay in case of war with Tatar at any time. This money cannot be touched.

Now the court's taxes, agricultural taxes account for 80%, salt taxes account for 10%, commercial taxes account for 10%, and mining taxes almost do not collect money.

Commercial taxes only account for 10%, and they have never collected much money. Han Wen really does not believe that the implementation of the new law can collect money.

Li Dongyang and Xie Qian, as well as Zeng Jian and Dai Shan did not kneel.

Emperor Hongzhi looked at the four of them and said, "Do the four ministers agree to implement it?"

Xie Qian shook his head: "I don't know, but Liangxiang has indeed collected a lot of money."

He couldn't make up his mind.

The reason why he didn't object was because Yan Chengjin was a magical guy who always had many new ideas.

If the new law is implemented and the court collects money, it is of course a good thing.

However, the implementation of the new commercial law also requires raising the salaries of officials and abolishing some old tax systems. This move involves too much.

Dai Shan said: "I agree. Many officials can't make a living, so they have greedy thoughts. Even if the new commercial tax is not implemented, the salaries of officials should be increased so that they can make a living."

Han Wen blushed: "You said it lightly in the Censorate. The world is clean, but where does the money of the Ministry of Revenue come from?"

Dai Shan stopped talking.

The Censorate is in charge of the law and only cares whether the court is clean or not. The Ministry of Revenue is in charge of finance and only cares whether the court has money.

They each have their own duties, and there is nothing to say.

Emperor Hongzhi stood up and said solemnly: "I ask you, if the new commercial law is implemented, where are the disadvantages?"

"What if the money cannot be collected, the court cannot pay the increased salary." Han Wen said straightforwardly.

"Then let's start with the main offices of the two capitals and thirteen provinces, and don't implement it in the prefectures and counties for the time being. Can't my treasury even pay the salaries of the two capitals and thirteen provinces?" Emperor Hongzhi scolded.

Han Wen trembled. The only money the court could really receive was land tax, but there were thousands of channels to spend money, including military pay, palace repairs, palace payments, and ministers' salaries.

Li Dongyang stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty is right. First implement it in the main offices of the two capitals and thirteen provinces to spend this salary. If the new law can collect money, it will not be too late to implement it throughout the country."

This is a compromise. It was not implemented throughout the country, but only in the main offices of the two capitals and thirteen provinces.

The cabinet and the six ministries agreed.

These two chapters may be a bit dry, so I will update twice today to think about the next plot. In addition, Friday is also my busiest time, so don't wait for me in the afternoon.