Why did the emperor rebel?

Chapter 258 The Big Pie Before Shen Shang's Writing

It has to be said that Shen Yi, Minister of the Household Department, is still very qualified.

In particular, he looked at this matter from the perspective of civil servants, so it was easy to infer a few points that would be easily debated in the court meeting.

The most critical thing is definitely whether it will lead to the rapid rise of the Mongolian tribe, which will threaten the safety of Ming Dynasty.

But this point, the Son of Heaven has clarified.

Since Mongolia is in a state of division, the mutual market is the catalyst to maintain their internal struggle. If it is used well, the border can be peaceful without any soldiers.

What's more, Daming didn't send materials to Mongolia for nothing, but asked them to exchange good horses, cattle, sheep, leather and other equally important materials.

Overall, the mutual market is actually beneficial to Daming.

With this major premise, the rest is the problem in actual operation.

First of all, it is the name of the mutual market.

The Ming Dynasty implemented the tributary system, which was the ancestral system established by the Taizu. If a mutual market was to be opened, people would inevitably use the ancestral system as an excuse to oppose it.

Tuotuobuhua, after all, is a descendant of the old Yuan Dynasty. His identity determines that he can at most live in peace with Daming, and it is impossible to bow his head and proclaim himself a vassal.

Otherwise, the golden family's appeal in the grassland would be shaken.

For this point, Zhu Qiyu had already prepared, said.

"Shen Qing, don't worry, Tuotuobuhua and I have reached a consensus on this point. The target of this exchange is not Tuotuobuhua's Khan Court, but the five major tribes under his account. These tribes will pay tribute In name, start trade with Daming."

It has always been the shackles of the ancestral system that the imperial court cannot avoid in order to implement policies.

Zhu Qiyu's move is a copy of Longqing's Ida Fenggong.

In name, it is the Mongolian tribes who submit to Daming, pay tribute to Daming, and then Daming bestows supplies, but in fact, Daming has no control over them, and the essence is mutual market trade.

Tuotuo is not limited to the identity of the gold family, and cannot trade with Daming in this way.

However, the special organization of the Mongolian tribe determined that as long as he agreed, the process of this title could be completed by his tribal leader instead.

In fact, this is not uncommon in the grasslands. The four tribes of Wala who were also in charge first were also officials of the Khan court in name, but at the same time they paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

The key to this matter is whether Tuotuobuhua turns a blind eye to the behavior of his tribe.

But now, he is behind the push, so naturally there is no such problem.

Shen Yi nodded and continued.

"So, then the next step is how to ensure the safety of the mutual market, and how to ensure the court's tax revenue, and prohibit smuggling. If this can be resolved, the mutual market matter will really have the capital to pass the imperial court."

In the final analysis, opening up the mutual market is to obtain benefits from it.

The reason why the Ming court was not interested in the mutual market was largely because, most of the time, the court lost money in the mutual market.

The Mongolian tribes are plundering by nature, and if they do business, it is very likely that even people and supplies will be robbed, and the compensation will be lost.

Merchants can't make money, and the court naturally has difficulty collecting taxes.

In addition, after the opening of the mutual market, a large number of smugglers appeared, and behind them, there were often shadows of powerful people, which seriously affected the court's tax revenue in the mutual market.

In this way, the materials fell into the hands of the Mongolian tribes, and the silver fell into the hands of the powerful. The court that maintained the mutual market was the least profitable.

Because of these small profits, it will also bring border friction and foreign infiltration, and the mutual market cannot be opened when the gains outweigh the losses.

Regarding Shen Yi's doubts, Zhu Qiyu said.

"The reason for this problem is fundamentally because the merchants in the mutual market do not have enough self-protection power."

"So this time, I will set the time and place for the mutual market. Twice a month, initially set up three mutual market locations. The principle of selection is that it is about [-] miles away from important towns such as Datong and Xuanfu."

"When the other party comes to the exchange, they are not allowed to carry weapons, and they are not allowed to go within [-] miles of the border town, otherwise it will be regarded as an invasion."

"One of our personnel participating in the exchange market will send a brigade of officers and soldiers to guard the whole process. Once they find that the other party is carrying weapons without authorization, they will use beacon smoke as a warning.

What the emperor said was murderous, but Shen Yi was used to it, thought for a moment, and nodded.

At a distance of fifty miles, the frontier cavalry could reach it in less than a quarter of an hour at full speed.

Since the other party is looting, even if it succeeds, it will be difficult to go far with a lot of supplies.

As long as the army sent to guard the exchange market can survive a short period of time, when the large group of troops arrives, the only ones who will suffer will be those who want to rob.

But in this way, I'm afraid it will easily cause border provocations.

But after tasting the emperor's tough tone, Shen Yi felt that even if there was a real quarrel, the emperor might not care too much.

This gang of thieves deserves to be beaten.

If the frontier army is not afraid of causing war, and really teaches the captives who dare to come to the market to plunder a few times, they will be honest.

Then, there is only the issue of smuggling left.

This is the most stubborn cancer. If smuggling cannot be curbed, the impact on taxation will be secondary. The resulting infiltration of the border by foreigners is a major event that needs to be taken seriously.

Facing Shen Yi's question, Zhu Qiyu tilted his head and said mysteriously.

"Didn't Shen Qing ask just now, why did I want the imperial store to hoard so many supplies? This is the answer!"

Shen Yi opened his mouth, vaguely understanding what the Son of Heaven meant.

A smile appeared on the corner of Zhu Qiyu's mouth, and said lightly.

"This time, I don't plan to open it to private merchants. All transactions with the Mongolian tribes will be completed by the Huangdian."

"All private merchants except Huangdian, who dare to step out of the border and trade with foreigners without authorization, will be regarded as smuggling and severely punished!"

This is how he deals with smuggling.

Once the mutual market opened, the reason why a large number of smuggling merchants emerged was simply because private merchants were scattered and difficult to manage.

Smugglers were mixed among ordinary merchants, and it was difficult for the court to tell them apart.

So if this is the case, we simply maintain the status quo, and still maintain that private transactions are prohibited, and any transactions should be completed by the government.

Without channels for private transactions, smuggling naturally has nowhere to hide.

Yamen in the imperial court does not do business.

Because the imperial court itself is in the position of supervising the market, if it ends in person, it is equivalent to supervising itself, which is not advisable.

Therefore, Zhu Qiyu finally set his mind on Huangdian.

The imperial court does not do business, but the royal family can.

Although the emperor is the son of heaven, in name, he is rich all over the world.

But in fact, the royal family and the imperial court are two separate parts, and the only connection between them is the emperor himself.

The royal family is the royal family of the emperor, and the imperial court is also the imperial court of the emperor, but the royal property, the imperial store, is also subject to the supervision of the imperial court.

In the previous life, there were many examples of admonishing officials in the imperial court impeaching the imperial store for illegal things.

Therefore, it is most appropriate for the mutual market to be handled by Huangdian.

With the emperor in charge, the imperial store has enough capital and manpower, and it will not be as difficult to organize as ordinary businessmen, with messy sources.

As the emperor's private property, there is the East Factory. In the imperial shop, everything from the manpower to the goods has a clear source to check, almost no different from the official management.

In this way, the smuggling that would exist in the mutual market can be prohibited to the greatest extent.

As for private smuggling outside the mutual market.

Since only Huangdian is allowed to participate in the mutual market, anyone who does not have this level of identity permission, as long as they dare to trade with foreigners, they will be arrested directly.

Strict entry and exit regimes will remain at the border.

The most important thing is that the special status of Huangdian allows Dongchang and Jinyiwei to jointly supervise and prevent the infiltration of foreigners through the mutual market to the greatest extent. possible.

After hearing this, Shen Yi's heart sank at first, but then he felt a little uneasy.

At this time, he was no longer worried about smuggling.

As the emperor said, if the Huangdian came to do this, even if the mutual market is open, as long as the frontier army checks it strictly enough, smuggling will still be invisible.

He thought that the emperor just wanted to get involved in the mutual market, but he didn't expect that this person had such a big appetite that he wanted to monopolize the whole thing.

In other words, there is no harm in this. The imperial store is the property of the emperor, and it must be much easier to organize and manage than a large number of businessmen of all kinds.

but……

As it was related to his own interests, Shen Yi felt that no matter what, he had to ask clearly. Bite the bullet, Shen Shangshu tried his best to speak confidently.

"What Your Majesty said can indeed curb smuggling, but I have a question. Since the imperial store relies on the court's mutual market policy, how should the proceeds be distributed?"

Zhu Qiyu looked at Shen Yi with a smile, blinked and said.

"Since it's a business, who pays the money and who gets the profit, is it possible that Shen Qing wants to grab the money from the imperial store?"

Seeing that Shen Yi's face turned black and he was about to burst into anger, Zhu Qiyu stopped joking and said seriously.

"Shen Qing actually wants to ask, will the transactions carried out by the imperial store be the same as the private merchants in the previous mutual market, and pay commercial taxes?"

Don't you understand...

Shen Shangshu said in a muffled voice with a dark face.

"Your Majesty's lesson."

Zhu Qiyu sat upright, looked at Shen Yi cautiously, to show that he was not joking, said.

"Shen Qing, don't worry. Although the imperial store is a royal property, it is still under the control of the imperial court. Taxation is certain. I will not favoritism just because it is a royal property."

"Not only that, as Shen Qing said, the trade of Huangdian at the border, in a sense, relies on the court's mutual market policy."

"Therefore, the Zhenzhun Household Department imposes heavy taxes on the trade of Huangdian at the border."

Shen Yi tentatively asked: "The heavy tax His Majesty mentioned refers to..."

"Cloth, spices, jewelry and other daily necessities are taxed one out of ten."

"Food, ironware, tea, salt and other goods that are in short supply will be taxed one to eight."

Shen Shangshu was a little dizzy.

If he remembers correctly, Daming's normal business tax should be...

Thirty tax one?

(End of this chapter)