If I fail to overcome the tribulation, I can only return to the Ming Dynasty and become a prince.

Chapter 218 Night Talk about Business Tax
The army didn't march very fast when it went out, and it didn't move very fast when it returned.

Although the path is relatively familiar because it has been walked once, and there is a ready-made path after walking it once, the march of the army does not mean that the soldiers can keep moving forward after setting off.

In fact, in ancient times, a march of thirty miles in a day was usually considered a normal march, and fifty miles was considered a fast march. Those who could walk more than 100 miles in a day were enough to be called a flying general.

Moreover, on the land where the army is returning, the road leading to Belanhu is still being renovated in accordance with the imperial court's readjusted strategy. The supply stations along the way are also being transformed into post stations as required, and the warehouse for storing supplies will also be expanded into a A stronghold will be used to station troops or be expanded into a place for passing business travelers to rest and supply supplies.

At night, the army was resting in a material warehouse. Zhu Zhanji came to Zhu Zhanchun and chatted with him.

The two of them were walking along the outside of the material warehouse. Zhu Zhanji couldn't help but sigh: "With so many inns and supply points along the way, this trade road may become the road with the best conditions in our Ming Dynasty."

Listening to his elder brother's emotion, Zhu Zhanquan smiled slightly and then said: "Only when the roads are normal can business travel be carried out, so that products from one place can be circulated to other places, making money or exchanging things that you need but don't have.

Merchants were specialized in doing this, so the court should pay more attention to merchants, because they were indeed promoting the development of the Ming Dynasty.

After all, if a place produces a lot of food and they can't eat it themselves, and the food can't be transported away, it will end up rotting in the ground, which is of no use to the Ming Dynasty.

Similarly, if the place where food is grown lacks cattle and iron farm tools that are necessary for farming, and there are no merchants to sell cattle and farm tools, the labor efficiency of their farming will be very low and they will not be able to grow more food.

In the past, the imperial court had always emphasized agriculture and suppressed business. This was true. What the Ming Dynasty decided in the early days of the Ming Dynasty needed was for everyone to secure their own business, stabilize people's hearts, and resume production.

But now it is the Yongle Dynasty. The focus of the court's development is no longer to restore the agricultural production that was destroyed during the late Yuan Dynasty and the Jing Dynasty. Instead, it should pay more attention to economic development so that the people can have enough food and clothing. It's warm, you can eat meat, drink wine, and when you have spare money, you can buy some seasonal fruits or make some headgear for the women at home.

The people of Ming Dynasty are the best people in the world. As long as they have a mouthful of food, everyone will obey the court, but the court cannot give the people just a mouthful of food.

Grandpa understands this truth, but what he thinks more about is stabilizing the world and finishing all the wars that need to be fought so that future generations will not need to fight anymore.

Our father also understands this truth, so he opposes grandpa's excessive consumption of people's power. In the future, when he succeeds to the throne, he will definitely spend more time relaxing with the people, and change our Ming Dynasty's current policy of external expansion to contraction of defense.

As for you, eldest brother, your personality is similar to your grandfather, and you will probably want to expand in the future. However, for the Ming Dynasty, it is not beneficial to have one generation of emperors conquer and one generation of emperors cultivate themselves.

Doing this will only make Ming Dynasty fall into a strange circle. The wealth accumulated by one generation of emperors will be used up by the conquests of one generation of emperors, and then the next generation of emperors will have to continue to recuperate and recuperate. In case of encountering short-lived emperors or emperors who also like conquests, Ming Dynasty will be destroyed. will fall into weakness.It should be noted that the strength of a country is not only its military strength and territory, but also its people's livelihood. Only when the people are rich can the Ming Dynasty be rich and the army strong. Only when the people are rich can the country become rich. "

"Second brother, you are right, but how can we make the people rich? Although the imperial court has always emphasized agriculture and suppressed business, it did not care about the small businesses run by the people themselves. What you mean is to loosen the control over those businessmen. ?" Zhu Zhanji didn't quite understand what Zhu Zhanchen meant. After all, he was still too young and had no experience or knowledge in these aspects.

Of course, Zhu Zhanjun could not make such a bullshit suggestion. He shook his head and said: "No, my suggestion is to impose heavy taxes on businessmen. The tax rate set by the Hongwu Dynasty is too low, and in turn, the tax on farmers is too high." Well, this is no longer about favoring agriculture and suppressing business.

Emphasis on agriculture means attaching great importance to agriculture. The court does attach great importance to this aspect, but if the tax is too high, the people will be exploited too hard. It should be noted that if the court charges two cents of tax, the officials below will charge you five cents. Three cents of tax will be charged to you. When the coins were collected, one was given to the court, one was kept in their own pockets, and the other was filial to the superior officials. The court did not benefit from the benefits, but instead received infamy. "

"So Zhanjun, you mean that the battle is over and we should clean up the officials?" Zhu Di's voice came from behind, and the two brothers quickly turned around and saluted Zhu Di.

Zhu Di had already taken off his armor and only wore a soap suit, so he didn't pay attention to any formalities. He waved his hands and said: "Okay, you don't need to pay attention to these formalities. This is in the army. What you just said is very good." , then said, let me also hear what you two brothers have to say."

Hearing what Zhu Di said, Zhu Zhanquan didn't hide anything, and then continued: "The court really needs to rectify the administration of officials, but harsh punishments cannot stop corruption and perversion of the law. The Hongwu Dynasty brought out all the spoils. This Has the official been cured?

Therefore, if you want to manage the government, on the one hand, you must strictly investigate the corruption of officials, and on the other hand, you must also ensure that these officials can have enough income to at least support their own families and maintain normal expenses.

The salary set by the Hongwu Dynasty was really too low. Although this dynasty increased it a little, the salary was still not as good as paper, so most officials' salary was only enough to feed themselves. As long as they had to have official entertainment and other expenses, they would fall into trouble. A situation where one cannot make ends meet.

Fortunately, high officials always have filial piety from below, plus they can occasionally receive some rewards from the court, so their life can be lived and they can always maintain their dignity.

But for those low-level officials, their annual salary is not enough for their family to eat and drink, and their wives have to go out to help others wash clothes to supplement the family income. This can only force them to find ways to make money. "

"This is indeed a problem, but the imperial court only has so much income a year. If you want to pay more to officials, you have to spend less money elsewhere, or the imperial court can have more money if it has other income." Zhu Di concluded, Then he looked at Zhu Zhanyu, and this was the question that had troubled him for a long time: "So what's the plan?"

"As I said just now, reduce agricultural taxes and increase commercial taxes. How much money will farmers make a year? Those businessmen are really rich, aren't they?" Zhu Zhanjuan said, and took out the card with Zhu Di on it from his sleeve. The IOU with the jade seal and red seal stamped on it by hand came to show Zhu Di how rich the merchants were.

(End of this chapter)