Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 185 Tariffs
Recruiting Zheng Zhilong is a major event for Fujian Province, and Zhu Youjian also attaches great importance to it.

But in the court, most officials didn't care at all——

Whether a pirate is appeased or exterminated, it will not affect the situation in the court at all.

This is also the reason why no ministers objected when Zhu Youjian announced that overseas martial law would be directly managed by him.

Even Zhu Youjian attached great importance to Zheng Zhilong and his pirate group. However, in the face of the major event of establishing the Naval Yamen, he only said a few words about Zheng Zhilong and then skipped it.

What he is more concerned about currently is collecting customs taxes and alleviating the financial difficulties of the Ming Dynasty. In the long run, specialized maritime institutions will be used to lead the Ming Dynasty into the Age of Navigation.

As a tax, tariffs did not account for a high proportion of each country's fiscal revenue in later generations. Most countries regulate import and export trade by adjusting tariffs.

However, in the view of Zhu Youjian, who has some knowledge of the late Qing Dynasty, tariffs have great potential. Various indemnity loans in the late Qing Dynasty were usually mortgaged with customs duties and salt taxes.

It can be said that, in addition to salt tax, tariff is another tax that is convenient to collect. Moreover, it will have less impact on the people and will not lead to peasant uprisings.

But how to collect taxes and how to prevent tax evasion is a big issue.

Although Zhu Youjian is prepared to spend several years improving the General Administration of Customs, it would be better if the loopholes can be discovered in advance and plugged as much as possible at the beginning of the customs establishment.

Recalling the customs agencies of later generations, Zhu Youji thought of a term: Guan title.

Although he did not remember the specific divisions and did not know the role of the Guan title, once it was implemented in later generations, he imitated it. The customs is under the jurisdiction of the guard captain, and the ranks of the guard are used as customs titles.

And since they had titles, Zhu Youjian guessed that most of them were armed. Thinking that the navy cannot catch all smugglers at sea, Zhu Youjian said:
"The Navy Yamen established a Coast Guard Corps under the jurisdiction of the Captain of the Guard and was responsible for the coast guard."

"If there is no fleet squadron in each coastal defense area, there is no need to set up brigade generals or staff generals, and the coast guard detachment and coast guard group under the jurisdiction of the military school captain can be responsible for the security."

"In addition, the Coast Guard has the responsibility of anti-smuggling and cooperating with the General Administration of Customs to collect taxes."

“If someone refuses to pay taxes, the Coast Guard can enforce the goods and even confiscate the goods.”

"Goods without tax certificates will not be allowed to leave customs."

"The tax payment certificate is jointly issued by the General Administration of Customs and Sihai Bank and must be entered into the bank's account before it is completed."

"The General Administration of Customs and Sihai Bank have set up supervision agencies to inspect each other."

As soon as this decision was announced, Yu Zigao felt a little unhappy. Because the emperor just said that everything at sea is under the control of the navy, but now he has established a coast guard under the jurisdiction of the guard captain to be responsible for guarding and anti-smuggling——

This is obviously to divide his power and prevent him from doing whatever he wants at sea.

And it was not just him. When Mao Wenlong heard that he could not leave customs without a tax certificate, he immediately said to the emperor:

"Your Majesty, what should we do about Pidao?"

"Do maritime merchants transport goods from Shandong to Pidao to pay customs duties?"

When Zhu Youjian heard this question, he suddenly fell into deep thought. Although Pi Island is a territory of North Korea, it is currently the residence of Mao Wenlong. Do we need to collect customs duties when transporting goods from Shandong to Pi Island?
Yu Zigao also took the opportunity to say:
"Do maritime merchants transport goods from the south to the north pay tariffs?"

"There are also fishermen at sea. Their boats do not have customs tax certificates. Can the navy arrest them?"

This was even more troublesome. Zhu Youjian could not solve these specific problems one by one, so he ordered:
"Establish a customs major at the Naval Academy to study how to strengthen confinement, prevent the export of prohibited goods and tax evasion." "As for fishing boats at sea, small boats are not required to collect taxes. Fishing boats with a length of more than ten meters or twenty meters need to be collected locally. It is registered by a naval agency and is determined not to be used for transporting goods. The standards for this fishing boat are determined by the Navy Yamen."

"All large ships that can transport goods over long distances must be registered and taxed."

"For domestic transportation, after customs clearance and tax payment, the local customs at the destination will issue a certificate, and then take the certificate to Sihai Bank for a tax refund."

"The same is true for goods from Pi Dao. Customs agencies are set up in Pi Dao. After they issue a certificate, they can also take it to Sihai Bank for tax refund."

When the tax refund plan was proposed, Zhu Youjian would rather cause trouble than someone would take advantage of loopholes to evade taxes.

At the same time, in order to prevent anyone from forging, Zhu Youjian instructed Xue Fengxiang, the Minister of Industry:

"Xue Qing will discuss with people from the Navy Yamen to formulate a common format for tax receipts and certification documents. The printing workshop will develop special paper and ink based on the specifications of treasure banknotes, and use them for unified printing."

"The seals and ink pads of various institutions must also strengthen anti-counterfeiting to prevent them from being forged."

"If any forged seals, documents, or official documents are found, law enforcement agencies will arrest them."

This was putting the newly established printing workshop into use. Xue Fengxiang felt excited, knowing that the emperor really valued the Ministry of Industry.

But Yu Zigao and Mao Wenlong lamented in their hearts. Knowing that once such a system is implemented, they will also be restricted.

In the past, when they were sailing on the sea, they could take cargo ships with them to transport goods, or even transport them directly with naval vessels, without anyone caring about them at all. Now that there is coast guard and customs supervision, they can't do whatever they want.

Those civilian guards will definitely investigate these military generals and find out their mistakes.

Mao Wenlong thought about this and asked the emperor:
"Can the customs and coast guard also inspect ships transporting goods for the navy?"

“Do they need to pay taxes?”

He didn't say that Zhu Youjian hadn't thought of it yet. When he heard Mao Wenlong's question, Zhu Youjian immediately thought that the navy might smuggle goods and steal them, so he immediately said:
"Civilian ships used for military purposes also need to be registered."

"Only when you are sure that you are performing military duties can you avoid paying taxes."

"The customs must send personnel to inspect and issue certificates together with the navy to strictly prevent these ships from entraining smuggled goods."

"In addition to military logistics goods and personal belongings of naval officers and soldiers, other goods transported by these ships also need to pay taxes."

This decision made Yu Zigao lament even more, feeling that he was even more restricted. The customs is under the direct control of the naval escort, and the personnel dispatched may not necessarily betray his reputation as a naval admiral. When he wants to transport goods again, it will not be easy.

He felt that the emperor's customs settings were becoming more and more strict, but Zhu Youjian felt that as a newly established agency, the customs had too many loopholes to fill, and he could not handle it alone.

Therefore, in addition to setting up a customs major in the Naval Academy, Zhu Youjian decided to set up a supervisory agency in the Naval Yamen. He told Yuan Keli, Minister of the Ministry of War and Assistant Director of the Third Law Department:
"How is the progress of the General Administration of Military Supervision?"

"The naval yamen should set up an inspection office and dispatch censors to oversee it."

"The supervision of the naval yamen cannot rely solely on eunuchs. The Ministry of War and the Metropolitan Procuratorate must take responsibility."

Put the newly established institution of the Navy Yamen under the supervision of the Ministry of War and the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

(End of this chapter)