Taiyuan Prefecture

Zhang Haogu was slowly looking at the confession and list in his hand.

Fan Hongtang and the others still knelt in front of Zhang Haogu obediently. If Zhang Haogu didn't speak, they would never dare to stand up.

Actually, it’s about this.

They were more or less worried.

What if, what if this bastard Zhang Haogu gives them a try?

This is not an impossible thing to happen.

After all, they really have no use value now.

Zhang Haogu, however, looked at it very seriously.

Every amount of money must be carefully checked, and every confession must be carefully verified.

These are all confessions recorded by different people.

And based on the confessions of different people, comparisons must be made.

The eight major Shanxi merchants have accumulated wealth for hundreds of years. Naturally, it is impossible to gather it all in one place. The location of each treasure must be carefully verified.

Now the new army has also begun to take action to dig out the treasure location.

Cross-examination, and then encourage reporting, so that after comparison one by one, it can be determined who missed what and who failed to explain.

After such comparison, it can be ensured that all the properties of these eight royal merchants have been revealed.

After Zhang Haogu did a little calculation, he couldn't help but sigh. These Shanxi merchants are really not ordinary rich. If the Dog Emperor knew about this, he would probably really know what it means to be rich and invincible.

Everyone worked very seriously, and after comparison, they verified the excavated treasures.

After carefully reading the list in his hand, Zhang Haogu quickly began to write a memorial, briefly explained the situation, and then directly arranged for his own soldiers to quickly send the memorial to the capital.

Presumably, in the capital, this dog emperor is impatient and looking forward to it, right?

"Fan Hongtang, you have done a very good job. You have clearly investigated the properties of the eight major Shanxi merchants. Yes, this is very good!"

Zhang Haogu then raised his head and looked at Fan Hongtang's group of people in front of him: "Get up!"

It was as if everyone had received a general amnesty.

Looking at this posture, Zhang Haogu shouldn't be able to kill the donkey. As long as Zhang Haogu takes action, it won't be a matter of minutes to save their lives?

"Now, although these eight imperial merchants have been eradicated, the profits from smuggling are still too high after all. I'm afraid there will still be unscrupulous traders smuggling in the future!"

Zhang Haogu said slowly: "I am going to report to the imperial court to set up a special Datong Market in Datong!"

"Datong Market?" Everyone couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and then Fan Hongtang cautiously said: "Prime Minister, we want to trade with the Mongols!"

"right!"

Zhang Haogu smiled and said: "If you want to put an end to smuggling, the best way is to do business honestly and steadily. Otherwise, the profits from smuggling will be too great, and there will always be many risks!"

"The Prime Minister is brilliant!" Fan Hongtang said quickly.

Zhang Haogu's idea is the most correct, mutual market.

Don't engage in any blockade. The more blockaded, the easier it is to fight. After the Tumubao Incident, the tribute trade between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia was interrupted. Mongolia attacked Datong many times, which made the Ming Dynasty exhausted. Speaking of which, this is the Ming Dynasty.

The immoral things Yingzong did destroyed the martial spirit of the Ming Dynasty.

However, from another perspective, Mongolia also needs the tea leaves of the Ming Dynasty, the iron pots and grains of the Ming Dynasty. If you don't sell them, the only way is to rob them.

During the period of Anda Khan, Monan Mongolia rose, and he invaded Datong 45 times. In 1550, when Anda Khan attacked Datong, Qiu Luan, the commander-in-chief of Datong in the Xuanfu, chose to bribe Anda Khan with a large amount of money.

The content was not to ask Anda Khan to withdraw his troops, but to ask him to attack other areas.

So soon, Anda Khan went directly to attack the capital, triggering the famous "Gengxu Revolution". Facing the Mongolian attack, the imperial guards in the capital were too timid to fight. What's even more ridiculous is that the commander-in-chief of the capital's imperial guards also pretended to be

The Mongolian army went to the countryside to rob.

Finally, the two sides entered a long period of peace. The most peaceful period was when Qi Jiguang was the chief military officer, guarding Jizhou, Yongping, Shanhai and other places. During this period, Qi Jiguang's military exploits were far inferior to Li Chengliang's.

However, as the saying goes, no one who is good at fighting has great achievements. On the one hand, Qi Jiguang has strong soldiers and horses, which is powerful in all directions. On the other hand, the reason is mutual trading, which gave the people of the prairie a way to survive.

But now the Anda tribe has begun to decline rapidly, Lin Danhan's tribe is also half-dead, the Jurchens have begun to rise, and this mutual market has begun to close again.

We only have to smuggle when it is closed because of huge profits.

The profit from this was enough for them to risk beheading.

The best way to eliminate smuggling is to do business well.

"It's not impossible to trade, it's just!" Zhang Haogu said calmly: "This requires paying taxes. You completed the transaction under the protection of Ming Dynasty. You are taking advantage of Ming Dynasty. Your profits are not honest.

It doesn’t make sense to pay taxes, right?”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that Zhang Haogu meant that he did not intend to target them, and even wanted them to continue doing business.

Is there anyone who knows how to do business better than them?

Zhang Haogu said casually while drinking tea: "You are all Shanxi merchants, and you are all smart people among smart people. Let's make a good summary together. How should the court supervise you to prevent you from evading taxes? The court will give

Here, how much tax is appropriate to charge you!"

"Let us add up the total?" A group of people were stunned.

"Master Prime Minister!" Fan Hongtang said cautiously: "Do you really want us to join forces?"

"Come together, you are businessmen. You know best how to avoid the supervision of the court and how to evade taxes. You must also think clearly about how to avoid it. Secondly, you should also think carefully about how much tax is appropriate for you.

First, the court cannot charge too little, and second, you must also make a profit!"

When Zhang Haogu said this, he put down the tea cup in his hand and said with a smile: "What I like most is order. In short, if the court wants money, you must also make money!"

"The Prime Minister is brilliant!" Fan Hongtang said respectfully.

However, Zhang Haogu continued to speak: "You can think about it slowly, think about it slowly, and then tell me when you think about it!"

"In addition!" Zhang Haogu said slowly: "The imperial court also needs Mongolian wool to make sweaters. If possible, it is best to let Mongolians grow cotton. We can also purchase a large amount of cotton!"

"Cotton, I'm afraid this is a bit difficult!" Fan Hongtang said cautiously: "I have never heard that cotton can be grown in Mongolia!"

"Can't Mongolia?"

Zhang Haogu thought for a while and said: "The Erut tribe and the Junggar tribe should be able to do it, right? Let them plant it, tell them, I will harvest as much as they plant, and let them transport it by themselves!"

Fan Hongtang didn't know Zhang Haogu's thoughts.

Xinjiang cotton, I have to thank the beautiful country for letting it know this information.

However, transportation costs are also a problem in this era, but it doesn't matter. Let the Mongols consider this issue first. They can do this business if they can, and if they can't, they will slowly do it when the Ming Dynasty expands its territory to these areas in the future.

Anyway, cement is now available, and the road can be built directly in the future. It would be best to let Zhu Youxiao quickly research the steam engine.

A group of people got together and pondered for a long time on how to satisfy Zhang Haogu.

Now, they have made it clear that they will give you a way to survive, and they will let you continue doing business, but you must be included in their plans.

Naturally, a group of people would not dare to make excessive demands.

But you also have to rack your brains to figure out how to let the court prevent you from evading taxes. Secondly, how much tax should the court collect? Zhang Haogu's principle is simple, progressive, the more you earn, the more arrogant you are.

The more you earn, the less taxes you pay.

In short, Zhang Haogu gave them certain authority and asked them to think about it carefully, and then everyone sat down and negotiated together.

For a high-ranking Prime Minister to be willing to discuss things with you, this is already a great honor.

Finally, a group of people discussed something.

First, basically everyone has to trade in the market. Mutual trading under the supervision of the government means that a number of mutual market supervisors are set up at designated points on the border so that merchants from both sides can barter to each other under their supervision. Chinese and foreign merchants are prohibited from doing so.

Violators of any other form of trade will be punished.

Second, when trading, both parties must make written records to clarify the content of the transaction and the amount of the transaction, and then the court will use this to collect taxes.

Third, if both parties do not handle the transaction, both the buyer and the seller can report each other, and the person being reported will be punished. However, false accusations are prohibited. If one party makes a false accusation, he will be severely punished by Ming law.

When he saw this, Zhang Haogu couldn't help but slap his thigh wildly. Isn't this just an invoice?

Companies should be allowed to proactively file tax returns.

It's not just the trade between the Ming Dynasty and foreigners, even its own people can do this. However, the administrative costs must be reduced first. This strategy of letting both parties report each other and impose heavy fines is somewhat interesting. If you don't issue invoices, you will be dealt with directly.

.

As long as the penalties are severe enough, they will definitely not dare to mess around with at least large transactions.

The fourth is commodity tax.

Merchants like them produce products for one price, but they actually sell them for another price, and the difference in price is all taxes.

Commodity tax is an indirect tax. Due to the existence of tax burden transfer, the taxpayers of commodity tax are often separated from the taxpayers. Therefore, the bearers of the tax burden often do not directly feel that they are the actual payers of the tax, while the taxpayers are only

It is just an intermediary for the entire tax activity.

Therefore, it is difficult for taxpayers to feel that they are being taxed.

Of course, there are definitely more than these four items discussed at present. This is just a general direction. Businessmen hope to have a stable business environment, and the court also hopes to have a relatively stable source of tax revenue.
To be continued...