Chapter 601 The Weakness of the Imperial Court

"Lord Song, you should be careful when you speak. It's not a good habit to talk about politics." Fei Hong said coldly.

Song Nan smiled and said, "Mr. Fei, don't scare me, no matter what the government officials and other subjects do? Compared with the policies of the early years of the founding of the Ming Dynasty and today, the changes are not small. It can be seen that the world changes from time to time, and the policies are not unchanged.

Fei Hong snorted without saying anything. Yang Tinghe frowned and said, "Lord Song, why does the court's household registration policy make people unwilling to do business? I didn't figure it out."

Song Nan said: "My people's nationality belongs to the locality, and the Tianjia system stipulates that the people are not allowed to leave the land, otherwise they will become exiles and escapees. The merchant's family is to operate in all directions and buy and sell cheaply. Such restrictions will certainly prevent merchants from freely to shuttle around the Ming Dynasty to do business. As you all know, our Daming merchants are all stuck. Locally, Jin merchants and Hui merchants and Zhejiang merchants all operate locally. Although the scale is huge, they have not been able to benefit all regions except for the local area. The reason is that they cannot buy property and operate in other places, which is because of the limitation of household registration.

"Nonsense, how can there be such a truth? The imperial court set up Tianjia in order to prevent the people from wandering around and the people from being lazy. Many people are worried about the local barrenness. They would rather waste their fields to go to rich places to eat food. According to Lord Song's words, we should ignore them and let them mess everywhere. Can't you run? If there is no restriction on household registration, how can the court apportion and collect the tax on corvée? Can't the whole world go to find them?" Yang Tinhe was a little annoyed and spoke rudely.

Song Nan was not angry and said with a smile, "Yang Shoufu, don't be impatient. I don't want the court to abolish the household registration system, but to make some flexible on this, encourage capable businessmen to spend money on business and construction, reduce their restrictions, so that their money hidden at home can circulate in the market, rather than put it. Dust emerges in their secret rooms; if there is circulation, there are taxes to collect, and the market can also flourish. Why not?

Yang Tingyu said, "According to your opinion, how can it be changed?"

Song Nan said: "Some changes have been made to the restrictions on the household registration of merchants, such as allowing merchants to buy property in other places, and those who have been doing business in other places for three years and have their own industries can be allowed to be naturalized locally, which can not only bring mobile merchants under the jurisdiction of the government, but also improve their enthusiasm. This is limited to those who have the ability to do business and property, but it is not applicable to the farming people, which is not harmful.

The ministers were stunned. These people never thought of Song Nan's bold idea. It makes some sense to think about it carefully, but some people raised questions soon.

"According to Lord Song's vision, isn't it overcrowding in places like the capital and other people yearn for? As long as you have money to buy property, you can be naturalized in the capital in three years. Don't you have to go to the capital?

Song Nan smiled and said, "This adult's worries are also a little reasonable, but this is impossible. Although the capital is good, not everyone is willing to live here; his hometown is difficult to leave, and he is willing to leave his hometown and come to the opposite. After all, there are only a few people who have settled on the ground; moreover, this policy is limited to merchants who have the ability to buy property, but I don't believe how many people can afford real estate in the capital. This policy only allows merchants to do business with peace of mind. Besides, there are not many shops and properties for them to buy, so there is no need to worry about this problem at all.

The ministers buzzed about Song Nan's suggestion, some expressed appreciation, others expressed doubts, and there was no unified opinion for a while.

In the chaos, someone suddenly laughed out loud, and everyone followed the sound, and the laughter came from the list of nobles under the rank.

Zhengde frowned and asked, "Qian Taichang, why are you laughing?"

Qian Taichang, the admiral of Yangwei Camp, stepped forward and knelt down. After getting up, he smiled and said, "Your Majesty, I can't help laughing. Lord Song talks about worrying about the country. In fact, you have been cheated by him. Lord Song is doing this for himself."

The ministers calmed down in surprise, and hundreds of pairs of eyes turned to Qian Taichang.

"How do you say this?" Zhengde asked in a low voice.

"The emperor doesn't know anything. According to what I heard, Lord Song recently invited a group of merchants to the capital to promote the shops and houses he built in the white paper square. The merchants did not want to buy his shops and houses because of the constraints of the household registration system implemented since the Taizu era. Seeing that the shops could not be sold, the houses No one cares about it. Lord Song concocted this so-called flexible strategy in the hall today, which seems to be for the imperial court, but in fact it is for himself to make money. I couldn't help hearing it, so I lost my temper. Please forgive me.

The ministers made a sound. It turned out that Song Nan suddenly jumped out today and said that this matter was for this purpose. This person was really bold and took state affairs for his own personal gain, which was extremely shameless.

Zhengde looked a little ugly and looked at Song Nan and asked, "Soong Nan, is he telling the truth?"

Song Nan said blankly, "Your Majesty, he is right."

The ministers boiled up like a pot, and actually admitted it directly and simply. Let's see how the emperor deals with him.

"You are so bold." Zhengde's face was obviously angry, and Song Nan was really outrageous.

"The emperor calmed his anger. Listen to my explanation.

"What's the explanation? You want to buy the idle land of the white paper workshop and say that you want to transform the mess of the white paper workshop. I also agreed, but I didn't expect that you were for personal gain from beginning to end. I'm very disappointed in you."

"Your Majesty, what's wrong with the minister's profit? I'm not cheating and plundering. To put it bluntly, I'm just doing business. When I borrowed millions to buy the abandoned land of White Paper Square, why didn't these marquis come out to talk? Because they can't see the value in it. Now that the minister has worked hard to transform it, they are greedy. Yes, I built a shop and house to sell it for profit. Is there anything out of sight? On the one hand, I transformed the stinking place of Baizhifang into a shop market, and on the other hand, I can increase the tax revenue of the imperial court. Is there anything invisible?

"Lord Song, we don't care if you make money from business, but you can't make money by pretending to be public." Yang Ting said coldly.

Song Nan said in a low voice, "I don't want to refer to the methods designated by the cabinet to blindly reclamate land and increase people's farmland tax revenue; don't think that I don't know what the Ministry of Household has got in order to increase taxes. Most of the news from various places every day from various places is about the tax increase. You know how much of the income increase of 6 million taels at the last year is really an increase in land reclamation. The reason why I want to risk being criticized to develop the land of Bai Paper Square is to prove to the emperor and all adults that the best way to increase tax revenue is not to dig mountains and reclaim fields, but to speed up circulation and develop commerce.

Yang Ting and his face are pale. If Song Nan is talking nonsense, it's okay, but Yang Ting and himself understand that they have used some means under financial pressure this year. Otherwise, there is no way to increase six million taels of silver. At this moment, he is exposed by Song Nan. I was speechless for a moment.

"Whhh whether you say that I am pretending to benefit from the public or private, or that I am profiting for myself, what I know is that if Baizhifang can be fully developed and let foreign businessmen settle in this year, it will bring nearly 500,000 taels of tax revenue to the court, which is the result of my conservative estimate."

Ah? So many?"

"Are you kidding, just a white paper workshop? 500,000 a year?"

Everyone was shocked. This guy bragged too much. The white paper shop only accounted for a tenth of the neighborhoods in the capital. The whole capital was less than 3 million taels of taxes last year. Why can there be 500,000 taels of taxes?

"Song Nan, don't talk too much. How can there be so much tax money?" Zhengde also doesn't believe it.

"Your Majesty, listens to calculate for you. Take the Nanyi District, which is close to completion of the development of Baizhifang, as an example. There are more than 180 shops and more than 60 residences. If all of them are sold, the total price should be about 2 million taels. According to the tax rate of 30 to 1 yuan, my Song family will have to pay nearly 60,000 taels of tax and silver, which is a lot of solid. Of. After the shops are sold, merchants still have to pay taxes for operating stores. 180 shops have at least 20,000 taels of silver a year, that is to say, this southern district alone can pay 90,000 taels a year. There are still six areas developed according to the South District, and 500,000 taels is still conservatively estimated. After the merchants settle in, there will be more than 100,000 taels of fixed taxes every year. Isn't this a treasure pot to attract money and treasure for the imperial court?

“......”

“......”

Zhengde and civil and military officials stared. This account has been clearly calculated, but it is not exaggerated at all. According to Song Nan's nature, it may be said a lot less. If a small white paper workshop can contribute so much tax money, according to Song Nan, merchants from all over the Ming Dynasty are willing to set it in various places. Isn't there a big increase in finances and taxes when buying a house?

"Your Majesty, you probably understand that most of the tax money comes from large expenses from the purchase of industrial stores. However, if you trade real estate, you have to pay taxes according to the total price, which is the tax brought by circulation. The reason why I proposed that the solution is that merchants should take out money for consumption and circulation. While prospering commerce, it can also bring a large amount of tax to the court. As for some people who say that I fake the public for personal gain, I disdain to explain anything. A gentleman loves money to learn from it. If I get some benefits from it, it is also what I deserve. Don't you have business in your family? You don't have to scold others for being greedy for money. Think about whether you can really be 'poor' before talking. Song Nan said to the wooden officials with a smile.