The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty

"In addition to reforming the craftsman system, commerce must also develop."

"The court's current tax revenue mainly relies on agricultural taxes and salt taxes, followed by commercial taxes, mining taxes and other miscellaneous taxes."

This has been the case in all dynasties. Agricultural taxes and salt taxes account for the majority, and are almost the main source of income to maintain the normal operation of the dynasty.

"The best way is that the Ministry of Revenue will be responsible for collecting agricultural taxes and salt taxes in the future, while the royal family will be responsible for collecting miscellaneous taxes!"

"Agricultural taxes and salt taxes are all used to develop people's livelihood, and there is no need to bear the support of the royal family and vassal states, as well as various military expenses!"

"And these two items fall on the royal family, using commercial taxes to support the royal family and vassal states and bear military expenses!"

As soon as these words came out, Zhu Houzhao's eyes lit up.

He knew how terrible the commercial taxes in the Ming Dynasty were now!

This is also thanks to the overseas trade that Tang Hao built and developed overseas, which increased the commercial taxes by more than a thousand times, enough to be comparable to agricultural taxes and salt taxes!

If it is really separated like this, it is not unacceptable.

After all, with the horror of commercial taxes, supporting the royal family and vassal states is just a small problem, which is enough to cover the military expenses of the court!

And after this split, it means that the army has become the private armed forces of the royal family, and no civil officials or gentry are allowed to intervene, and they have no reason to intervene.

After all, all military expenses are borne by the royal family, which is equivalent to the royal family supporting these soldiers without spending a penny of the court. What reason do you have to intervene?

The only problem is that once a war is launched, the military expenditure will be an astronomical figure!

With the current number of commercial taxes, can it really be afforded?

Zhu Houzhao raised his own question, and Tang Hao smiled confidently.

"Your Majesty, you underestimate the charm of industry and commerce!"

"This is just the overseas commercial tax, which is enough to rival the agricultural tax and salt tax."

"When the entire Ming Dynasty enters the era of industrial and commercial development, the commercial tax will be more than a hundred times higher than the sum of the agricultural tax and salt tax. That is the real economic lifeline of the Ming Dynasty!"

Zhu Houzhao was dumbfounded.

More than a hundred times!

How is this possible?

Agricultural taxes and salt taxes,

These are the economic lifelines of dynasties.

The Ming Dynasty was the same, relying on agricultural taxes and salt taxes to successfully secure its throne.

Zhu Houzhao had a photographic memory, and as an emperor for so long, he naturally understood the importance of agricultural taxes and salt taxes.

The court's tax revenue mainly relied on agricultural taxes and salt taxes, accounting for as much as 90% of the total tax revenue.

The remaining miscellaneous taxes brought less than 10% of the income to the court!

Of course, that was before Tang Hao developed business overseas.

Today, the overseas business situation is very good, which has also brought high commercial taxes.

But even so, commercial taxes and other miscellaneous taxes only accounted for 30% of the total tax revenue, and the real big head still depends on agricultural taxes and salt taxes.

If it weren't for agricultural taxes and salt taxes, Zhu Houzhao would have said nothing about his civil and military achievements, and I'm afraid that just one war would have caused the Ming Dynasty to fall apart!

But now, Tang Hao actually told him that commercial taxes would be more than a hundred times higher than the sum of agricultural taxes and salt taxes in the future!

How is this possible?

Zhu Houzhao looked at Tang Hao in disbelief, his scalp numbing with shock.

"Savage, you are exaggerating a bit!"

"I have lived for most of my life, and I have never heard that commercial taxes will one day exceed agricultural taxes!"

No wonder Zhu Houzhao couldn't accept it, it was too outrageous.

The Central Plains dynasty has always been promoting the basic national policy of "focusing on agriculture and suppressing commerce", which determines that the court's tax revenue mainly relies on agricultural taxes, while the tax revenue brought by the salt and iron monopoly is second-rate. The combination of the two has become the main source of tax revenue for the court!

Commercial taxes want to exceed agricultural taxes, unless the national policy of "focusing on agriculture and suppressing commerce" is changed, but how is this possible?

Even if commercial taxes really have huge profits and can really exceed agricultural taxes, Zhu Houzhao will never do so.

You must know that people rely on food for their heaven. If the people go to business and no one is willing to farm, where will the food come from?

Without enough food, the people will not be able to eat enough and will starve!

If you dare to let the people go hungry, the people will dare to rise up and rebel against your Zhu family!

Therefore, the basic national policy of "focusing on agriculture and suppressing commerce" must not be changed. Food and land are the foundation and lifeblood of the dynasty!

"Savage, I have to remind you that no matter what you want to do, the policy of focusing on agriculture and suppressing commerce must not be changed!"

"Although silver is important, it is far less important than food. Let the people have enough food, this is the top priority in the world!"

Hearing this, Tang Hao just smiled indifferently and spread his hands helplessly.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Did I say that the people should not farm?"

"Focusing on agriculture is indeed a national plan. I am not stupid, how can I change it?"

Zhu Houzhao nodded when he heard this, and his heart was immediately put back in his stomach.

But Tang Hao changed the subject immediately, which made his heart rise again.

"But it's wrong to suppress business, this can be changed."

"You have also seen that the development of overseas business has brought about an astonishing commercial tax!"

"Have you ever thought that one day the court will be able to support itself by relying solely on commercial taxes and salt taxes, and will no longer have to collect agricultural taxes from the people!"

"At that time, the country's industry and commerce will develop to a certain level, and the people will not only not have to pay taxes for farming, but will also receive subsidies from the court. This is the real peace and prosperity!"

When Zhu Houzhao heard this, his eyes widened, and he felt that his brain was a little confused.

Abolish the agricultural tax directly!

Not only do the common people not have to pay taxes for farming, but the court also subsidizes them!

How the hell is this possible?

Shocking!

Extremely shocked!

He simply could not accept Tang Hao's idea.

The common people do not have to pay taxes, and farming is subsidized by the court. What kind of prosperous era would that be?

"Okay, let's stop here for the agricultural tax!"

"I just want to tell you that the charm of industry and commerce is far beyond your imagination!"

"To give a simple example, the court has begun to build border customs. All people who go out to sea for trade must pay tariffs according to established standards. This is actually a kind of commercial tax. Has your majesty ever considered the profit of tariffs?"

"It's like there are countless miniature versions of Zheng He's fleet, which constantly bring benefits to the Ming Dynasty. Although their fleet size is far less than Zheng He's fleet, they win in number and frequency! Just relying on tariffs, the Ming Dynasty's commercial tax will soon be enough to exceed agricultural taxes!"

Zhu Houzhao took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

Zhu Houzhao was naturally well aware of the horrific profits of maritime trade, otherwise he would not have been under pressure to let Tang Hao go out to sea many times to build overseas trade.

Zhu Houzhao did not quite understand Tang Hao's proposal to build a customs at first, but now he finally understood the importance of customs to the Ming Dynasty!

This is a golden chicken that lays golden eggs!

As long as the customs is built in the early stage, the court does not need to do anything in the later stage, and it can collect tariffs without doing anything!

And this tariff is not a small amount. Look at the former Song Dynasty, which relied on collecting commercial taxes and tariffs from maritime trade to resist foreign barbarians for a hundred years. You can know the horror of this tariff!

When the Ming Dynasty customs is officially put into operation, it is definitely not a dream for commercial taxes to exceed agricultural taxes!

Is there really a day when commercial taxes can completely replace agricultural taxes and salt taxes, and ordinary people don’t have to pay taxes?

It’s hard to imagine and incomprehensible!

But that is definitely a real prosperous age!

“These are what you are going to do next!”

“Why?” Zhu Houzhao noticed something was wrong.

"What about you? Where are you going? You don't want to go out to sea again?"

Tang Hao's eyes were deep and his expression was firm.

"I want to go out to sea to get high-yield food crops!"

"???"