Lu Ya smiled and said,
"The reason why the Song Dynasty was so rich was because of the composition of their financial income.”
"Generally speaking, the country's revenue comes mainly from taxes and fees.(The court provides services to the people, or the people pay for the use of state property, such as the fees charged by the court, the rental fees of state property, etc.), interest (profit payment refers to the form of profit paid by state-run workshops to the government, such as state-owned enterprises in the future), debt (financial borrowing refers to a form of income obtained through credit, such as bonds issued in the future). These four types of taxes were the absolute majority.”
"The taxes of the Song Dynasty were divided into agriculture, commerce, customs duties, and salt taxes.”
"The agricultural tax of the Song Dynasty was a continuation of the two-tax law of the Tang Dynasty. Relatively speaking, it was moderate and not particularly heavy.”
"However, the Song Dynasty had some additional taxes on agriculture, such as the tax on taxes and taxes.”
"In addition, the Song Dynasty punished farmers who refused to pay taxes very severely. However, this was not the reason why the Song Dynasty was particularly rich.”
Zhu Yuanzhang listened carefully and did not interrupt Lu Ya.
Although he wasn't a cultured person, he was really eager to learn, especially from Lu Ya. He could always learn a lot from him.
Lu Ya said,"
"The reason why the Song Dynasty was so rich was actually related to the business tax.”
"In the past dynasties of Huaxia, business was regarded as a low-class industry and was restricted. However, the Song Dynasty was not like this. The Song Dynasty was very open to business.”
"Not only have the restrictions on commerce been relaxed, but the structure of the city has also changed from the market structure of the past to the market structure. The time and space for commerce have greatly expanded.”
"As a result, the Song Dynasty's business tax revenue was very considerable.”
Lu Ya smiled and said,
"These are all the reasons why the Song Dynasty was rich, but they weren't the main reason. The real main reason was the overseas trade.”
Lu Ya said in a low voice,"
" Overseas trade accounted for the majority. The Song Dynasty imposed a 7%-10% tax on imported goods. Every year, only Guangzhou, Quanzhou, and Liangzhe were in charge of foreign trade. The chief officer is the envoy of the market ship, or the envoy of the Fan ship. The Song Dynasty set up Shibo Department in Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Mingzhou, Hangzhou, Mizhou and other places. The tax revenue reached 2 million taels of silver.”
"How much?" Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes widened!
"Two million taels of silver!" Lu Ya repeated.
After a pause, he continued,
"And this is only the tax from the three shipping companies. If this is the case…the total amount of overseas trade in the Southern Song Dynasty is at least 200 million taels of silver.”
Plop...
Zhu Yuanzhang lost his balance and almost fell.
Lu Ya hurriedly steadied him and gloated,"
"How is it? Are you scared?"
Gulp…Zhu Yuanzhang gulped and his face twitched.
"This, this is too exaggerated."
"No!" Lu Ya shook his head.
"It's not an exaggeration at all. This is how sea trade makes money.”
"Let's not talk about the distant ones. Let's just talk about the Yuan Dynasty. It was also a major maritime trading country. Ships filled with porcelain flowed endlessly from the East to the East, and from the West to Southeast Asia, Persia, Arabia, and Africa.”
Lu Ya said solemnly,"
"It can be said that the profits of an overseas trade can easily be ten times or even a hundred times. The huge profits of overseas trade are no secret to the bureaucrats and nobles in the Jiangnan area. Many large families in Jiangnan rely on this to make a fortune.”
In the previous Ming Dynasty, after the founding of the country, Zhu Yuanzhang issued a ban on the sea in order to resolve the harassment of the Japanese pirates, Zhang Shicheng, Fang Guozhen, and the rest. He revoked the three major shipping companies in Quanzhou, Zhejiang, and Guangzhou, Guangdong, and banned foreign trade.
Anyone who privately built ships or engaged in overseas trade would be beheaded and their families banished.
But there was a famous saying in Capital:
If there was a 10% profit, the capital would be guaranteed to be used everywhere. With a 20% profit, the capital would be active.
With a 50% profit, the capital would take the risk.
With a 100% profit, capital would dare to trample on all human laws.
With a profit of more than 300%, the capital would dare to commit any crime and even risk being hanged.
Zhu Yuanzhang's strict orders couldn't stop the Jiangnan residents from pursuing benefits.
Ordinary civilians who had no power and influence simply went out to sea to become pirates.
The bureaucrats of the privileged class would simply help the pirates sell their stolen goods or organize fleets for smuggling.
However, the Ming Dynasty did not have a strong navy, so they were unable to stop the pirates and smugglers.
Zhu Yuanzhang's ban on the sea was useless other than reducing the court's tax revenue.
Bureaucrats and despotic gentry took the opportunity to become the leaders of the Ming Dynasty's overseas trade and profiteering.
Take the famous Zheng Zhilong (Zheng Chenggong's father) maritime trading group at the end of the Ming Dynasty as an example. Their annual income was tens of millions of taels of silver.
After Zheng He went to the West, he broke the monopoly of the Jiangnan area on sea trade.
Zheng He's fleet had over 200 ships of various sizes, of which 63 were main treasure ships, each of which could carry 2500 tons.
Before each voyage, the Ming Dynasty eunuchs would purchase a large amount of porcelain, tea, silk, and other goods so that they could trade with the countries along the route.
And the trade volume of each country was limited every year.
Zheng He's fleet brought a large amount of goods, which naturally affected the sales of the Ming Dynasty's smuggling caravans.
Most importantly, everyone had blatantly violated the sea ban because the emperor could not catch them.
Now, Zheng He had built an invincible fleet that could sweep across the seas, exterminate pirates, and easily capture smuggling fleets.
In Zheng He's fleet, those in charge were the Emperor's trusted eunuchs.
They only needed to be loyal to the emperor, and they didn't need to give face to the bureaucrats.
Therefore, if they were caught smuggling, it would depend on the emperor's mood whether they lived or died.
Thus, after Zheng He went to the West, the number of smuggling fleets decreased greatly.
At that time, the amount of silver that flowed into the Great Ming Dynasty through trade was as high as 260,000 kilograms, which was equivalent to 8,320,000 taels of silver.
Silver was money in the Ming Dynasty, and money moved people's hearts. It would be strange if these interest groups didn't hate Zheng He's fleet.
[PS: The day of moving words (bricks) begins. Give me some flowers and tickets to motivate me.]
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