I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 671 Joint Stock Company

In the spring of this year, the prince traveled to Tianjin and visited the north on behalf of the emperor.

Wang Li, the former chief assistant, was seriously ill.

Liang Wenxuan was seriously ill the previous time.

Yang Gong officially resigned from the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Central Army of Northern Zhili because he was granted the title of king and returned to Beijing. Han Hou Fu Yunsheng moved to Beijing from Taiyuan to take over the northern military affairs.

Zhu Yijiong just turned 50 this year.

The previous year, during the Mobei and Beihai wars, the imperial court invested tens of millions of taels of silver in military expenditures. In the same year, the national annual revenue once again exceeded the 80 million taels mark, and the local fiscal deductions were removed.

Among them, the agricultural tax rate has dropped to 60%, the commercial tax and tariff rate has increased to 37% year-on-year, and the tax rate of overseas territories such as Luzon and Coconut City has increased to 3%.

The Governor's Palace of Yecheng finally no longer needs the court to pour money into it. Although the main profit comes from the customs tax revenue of the two major ports of Old Port and Malacca, Yecheng Port has also been stimulated by Kang Zifei's royal fleet and the policies of the court. Driven by it, it is gradually moving on the right track.

This year, not only did the overseas territories have a surplus, which could earn fiscal revenue for the imperial treasury and internal funds, but the agricultural tax, which had an absolute advantage and was even the foundation of the country, has dropped significantly compared to previous years.

From accounting for almost 90% in the beginning, now it only accounts for 60% of the country's fiscal revenue.

Moreover, it also integrates various miscellaneous taxes that can be merged into agricultural taxes. It is not the original pure land tax and tribute. To be honest, there are no taxes in the Ming Dynasty now, only taxes.

Even taxes are different. For example, taxes on cotton fields are higher than those on rice fields. Many of these agricultural taxes come from cotton fields.

Who knows that China's cotton spinning industry has made great progress today. The efficiency brought by steam cotton spinning machines is not comparable to that of human labor. The original cotton field output alone cannot satisfy it at all. The planting area must be expanded.

Even if the imperial court promoted cotton-rice rotation, it only standardized the planting of cotton fields. Officials from areas outside the south of the Yangtze River had reported that some farmers had privately destroyed rice fields into cotton fields for profit, requesting the imperial court to order control.

Control must indeed be controlled. It is impossible for everyone to eat cotton, but it cannot be forced. It must be guided and understood to understand what the people need.

People switched to cotton fields, partly for money, but partly because they couldn't earn money from food. Even though grain prices are rising outside, the money people earn from selling grain to merchants has been under pressure.

This requires cooperating with the inspection of the censor, punishing them severely at the local level, and even banishing a group of people.

The new steam engine of the Ming Academy of Sciences has actually started the industrial revolution in China. Although the progress is very slow, even its use on battleships is still far away.

But so far, the use of steam engines is no longer limited to textiles. Heavy industries such as mining and iron smelting are already using steam power.

Although steam power is mostly auxiliary on the whole, after taking this step, the rest is nothing more than continued improvement.

Also benefiting from the widespread use of steam engines, industrial and commercial tariffs in the Ming and New Dynasties increased every year, and now have risen to more than one-third of the national fiscal revenue.

At the current rate, within twenty years, China's agricultural taxes may no longer be able to suppress industrial, commercial and customs trade.

This is not only due to the steam engine, but also to the increase in the national population. As the population increases, the labor force will naturally increase.

Since Emperor Zhu launched his army, the first batch of newborns have grown up and can work outside to earn money and supplement the family income.

Moreover, the reform of the "Female Commandments" also provided public opinion basis and support for further liberating the female labor force.

As the first steam factories were built in coastal cities...not workshops, but real factories. Although the scale is still small, it has fully utilized the steam cotton spinning machine.

More and more women in the private sector are beginning to show their faces, and even work in factories. Women can also become the mainstay of the family.

Of course, this situation currently only occurs in coastal provinces. Because the coast has the benefits of maritime trade and developed commerce, steam cotton spinning factories are allowed to appear. The further inland the provinces are, the more rare steam engines are.

Especially in the provinces of southwestern Sichuan, there are no steam engines at all, and they still maintain the traditional lifestyle of men farming and women weaving, farming, reading and passing down family traditions.

The emergence of factories in coastal cities also meant that industrial and commercial output increased rapidly. Once there are more products, they have to be sold and turned into profits.

The markets in Japan, South Korea, Nanyang Islands, Southeast Asia, and the Western Regions have been completely monopolized by Chinese merchants.

Even the Spice Islands trade, which the Dutch only control in Nanyang, was declared bankrupt last year due to the crazy squeeze of Chinese businessmen. Although the Spice Islands are still controlled by the Dutch, all the exclusive channels for purchasing spices have long since It was misappropriated by Chinese businessmen.

In the past, the Dutch would have had to launch a massacre if they couldn't protect everyone, but now...as long as they dare to do this, they don't need to send troops from the court. Just these merchants who organize themselves to go to sea can pull up a temporary fleet. Let’s fight with the Dutch to see who has the stronger ships and more powerful guns.

These days, who would have the nerve to go overseas to do business without someone around?

Chinese businessmen are not only squeezing the market share of countries such as the Netherlands and Spain, but are also frantically inflaming themselves.

In order to monopolize more market shares, these guys even joined forces to spend money, constantly raising the purchase price of raw materials such as cotton and spices, and using financial resources to squeeze out other countries and hostile trading companies.

The Dutch first lost the monopoly power of trade in the Spice Islands, and now they have suffered a huge impact on the cotton textile industry. Their East India Company finally joined forces with the British and took a breather.

Now they are being crazily squeezed and squeezed by Chinese merchants, and they are even killed by mistake. Chinese merchants do not need to spend money to deal with the weak Dutch.

At the beginning of this year, the share price of the Dutch East India Company reached a new low. Many Dutch investors were disappointed with the company and sold their stocks.

At the same time, in the Bengal region of India, the British packaged and sold the colonies here to Ming Dynasty China. Bangladesh's industry, which was still in its infancy, was quickly overwhelmed by the Chinese businessmen who came here. All industrial cities were either occupied by Chinese goods or simply controlled and acquired by Chinese businessmen.

On the surface, Bangladesh is all addicted to Chinese goods, and with the huge profits brought by Chinese factories, they seem to be getting richer. But this is all an appearance. In fact, the entire Bangladesh, from military to national finance, has completely relied on the Governor-General of Bengal.

The Governor-General's Office of Bangladesh was officially merged with the Governor-General of Chittagong last year. The Governor-General of Bangladesh was transferred back to the country, and the Governor-General of Chittagong became the Governor-General of Bangladesh.

Zhang Guangsi was lucky. The original Governor of Bengal returned to China, and he happened to fill the vacancy. The Governor could no longer serve, but he was promoted to the chief officer of the Governor's Mansion, and it was the emperor's decree.

He also understood what the emperor meant by giving him this appointment. In a few years, there would be a war between the Governor-General of Bengal and the local nobles of Bengal. Even if there was no war, they would find a reason to launch a war and completely control this place.

The land here is fertile, the rivers are rich, and there are several natural harbors. It is not an exaggeration to say that God will provide you with plenty to eat.

How could such a good land be allowed to be monopolized by these ignorant Bengalis?

In the maritime trade market of Far East Asia, under the crazy involution and squeeze of Chinese merchants, some trading companies in the mainland provinces could not hold back anymore. They could not beat the maritime merchants of Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong who were the first to try their luck.

As a result, these southern inland merchants who lost the struggle gradually chose to join the Yinzhou ocean trade. This route was too far and not many coastal merchants were willing to take it.

Although the profits are huge, compared with the Asian market, they still feel that it is not worthwhile and the risks are high.

The risks are indeed there, but the profits are also high. Those mainland merchants who joined the ocean trade still made several times the profits in just the first year, after taking into account various costs and the high wages of the crew.

Moreover, only one ship was silent during the whole journey. During the storm, water entered the cabin and damaged the cargo of both ships.

This inspired other merchants, and more and more merchants chose to explore Yinzhou. In the end, not only southern merchants, but also northern merchants joined them, and when they joined, a group of merchants often went together.

In this way, the possible losses caused by the ocean can be shared. All merchants will advance and retreat together. If they make a profit, they will make a profit together, and if they lose, they will pay together. Once they have money, they can further expand their business, and even compete with those large trading companies that monopolize the market.

Unknowingly to Zhu Yijiong, businessmen in this era were self-taught and slowly figured out the prototype of a joint-stock company.

It was still just a prototype, and it was limited to sea trade in the distant Yinzhou.

Even if they are united, these businessmen are still bound by their place of origin.

(End of this chapter)