Song Dynasty's Ignorant Prince

Due to the strict laws of the imperial court, the private salt traders in the Northern Song Dynasty were repeatedly banned. These armed private salt traders often acted in groups, posing a serious threat to social security.

In Hebei and Shandong areas, due to the excessive oppression of the imperial court, the problem of refugees is also very serious, and many people are willing to risk being captured by the imperial court to become pirates. All these pose a threat to social stability. As a result, many scholar-bureaucrats believed that the imperial court should reduce the degree of prohibition and not compete with the people for profit.

Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi clearly opposed the excessive exploitation of businessmen.

The negative impact of the prohibition system is also huge, and it is greater than the positive impact it brings.

And now the status of businessmen is getting higher and higher, and they also require better treatment.

Under such circumstances, Zhao Ji followed the trend and convened ministers to start discussing the "Nine-Nine-Three" reform of business.

First, open up for discussion.

Except for oil, steel, heavy industry, gunpowder and other industries, which are still controlled by the state, and private participation is prohibited, other industries such as tobacco, alcohol, sugar and tea are all released. The state can operate, and the private sector can also operate, the state only plays the role of macro-control.

When the price of the state is high, the people will naturally go back to buy the private one, and when the private price is high, the common people will in turn buy the state one. Only in this way can the price be more reasonable, and it will not harm the people to benefit the powerful.

Of course, there will be a lot of opposition to this kind of policy, and they are those with vested interests. But does Zhao Ji use worry about them now?

What's more, there are a lot of poor children in the imperial court now, and they all support reform.

Under the suppression of Zhao Ji, those ministers who opposed it were only beeping a few words, what else could they do? Could it be that they still want to treason?

Second, encourage business and industry.

Needless to say, doing business in the Song Dynasty was not a shame, even if there were many officials who did business in secret.

Now the imperial court encourages, that is to say, gives various conveniences.

In the total tax revenue of the Northern Song Dynasty, agricultural taxes accounted for 30%, and industrial and commercial taxes accounted for 70%.

This figure shows that the main body of national fiscal revenue is no longer agriculture, but industry and commerce, and the agricultural society has begun to quietly move towards the industrial society.

There are two types of business taxes: over-taxes, which are worth two per 100, which are charged to merchants; and residence taxes, which are worth three per hundred, which are levied for sitting workers.

Over-tax is a tax charged to merchants who resell goods, and it is 2% of the value of the goods. Residential tax is a tax levied on goods sold by merchants in urban markets, and is 3% of the value of the goods. However, since the reseller of goods often passes through more than one tax, the over-tax will be collected multiple times. Therefore, the commercial tax rate of the Northern Song Dynasty will not be only 5%, but more.

It is otherwise stipulated that if the goods are required by the government, tax will be levied at 1/10 in kind.

All these previous drawbacks are removed, no tax is collected in the circulation link, but only in the final sale link.

The taxation authority is taxation, and there are more than 1,800 taxation markets in the prefectures, counties, towns and towns in the Northern Song Dynasty. Taxable commodities include cloth, utensils, incense medicine, treasures, sheep and hogs, farmland sold by folk codes, shop houses, horses, cattle, donkeys and mules, camels, tea and salt sold by merchants, etc. Hidden goods for tax evasion and was found to have confiscated 1/3 of the goods, half of which belonged to the whistleblower.

The huge fiscal revenue is not due to aggravating the exploitation of farmers, and no amount of exploitation can be exploited, so it still depends on industry and commerce.

All ministers know about this number, especially in the last two years, the country is no longer at war (cough, the Song Dynasty attacked foreign countries is not counted, it is said that foreign countries did not invade the Song Dynasty), so the business is extremely prosperous. In particular, the capital city has replaced Bianliang as the most prosperous place.

The roads extend in all directions, not the dirt roads of the past, but the railways and cement roads, which greatly facilitates transportation and makes the economy prosperous. From day to night, the capital here is almost a city that never sleeps!

The imperial court encouraged business, and only when business developed can the economy develop and come out of the small-scale peasant economy.

And Zhao Ji encouraged businessmen to go overseas.

The Silk Road on the road can be done, but it takes a long time and consumes a lot of money, but it requires a lot of food and lodging for horses and personnel. But it is different at sea. Now both coal and oil are very cheap, especially oil, because it is easy to come, and it does not cost much, so the court sells it cheaply.

If you buy a private boat and go out to sea, the benefits will be great. Of course, there will be risks, especially at this time, the charts are not precise, and the boats are mostly wooden boats, which have low risk resistance ability, and some places do not understand the language. .

Recently, however, the court began to liberalize the sale of ships, allowing private purchases of ships. This ship is a steel ship, a ship using a steam engine!

Of course, ordinary people can't afford a ship, but there are many rich people in the Northern Song Dynasty, with assets of one million yuan, that is, more than ten million yuan. The price of a ship is 10 million yuan, which is not expensive for the rich.

In addition to these large ships, many people still drive wooden boats. Although they are not good, there are many people.

The court encouraged them to do business and allowed them to assemble weapons. Except for muskets and cannons, all other weapons were allowed, including oxen and crossbows.

And there is another one, the court has released some charts, including from Song Dynasty to Dongying, to Malay Island, to Dashiguo, these routes are very clear, as long as you are careful, it doesn't matter.

Guangzhou, Mingzhou, Quanzhou, Dengzhou and Chenzhou, a total of five places set up municipal shipping divisions to manage maritime transportation.

The city ship agency in Song Dynasty was similar to the modern customs, but with greater power.

Merchant ships going to sea must apply to it and have insurance before they can pass. Otherwise, the goods will be confiscated and the personnel punished. After a foreign merchant ship arrives at the port, it must immediately report to the 3.2 Municipal Shipping Agency, which will send personnel to board the ship for inspection.

Generally, one-tenth of its goods are levied as an import tax, which is called "extraction". It also stipulates that some goods are prohibited goods, all of which are purchased by the municipal shipping agency, and other goods are also bought partly, collectively referred to as "Bomai", the goods extracted and purchased by the BOC will all be delivered to the central government.

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They also established foreign business reception places at the trade ports, such as Huaiyuan Station in Hangzhou, Laiyuan Station in Mingzhou and Wenzhou, etc., and took a series of protection measures for foreign merchants and merchant ships.

The Song Dynasty only levied 7%-10% tariffs on imported goods. This tax rate is still quite a lot, but the people who go to sea are all rich and huge profits, so it is appropriate to levy more.

After discussion, the ministers basically agreed, so it was published as a clause.