Gao pragmatically believed that the problems of the northern merchants were easy to solve, but the problems of the southern merchants were not easy to solve, not only because he was sure to convince the core of the northern merchants, the Jin merchants, but also because there was a deeper reason, that is, the commercial trade engaged in by the northern and southern merchants was not consistent in many aspects.

Northern merchants did a lot of bulk grain, salt, cotton, fur, ginseng (Jurchen products) and other trade, later due to the intervention and guidance of the tribute and Jinghua, and the trade of cattle, sheep, horses, etc., and Jinghua itself in addition to the above trade, there are a large number of iron (including military industry), ships, cement, soap, porcelain, etc.

In addition to the overlap between the southern merchants and the northern merchants in grain, salt, cotton, porcelain, ships, etc., the rest of the industries such as silk, silk, silk, silk (differentiated) production, weaving (garment, footwear and hat processing industry), printing and dyeing, paper manufacturing and printing (books) are all projects that the northern merchants are less involved in.

Some officials may ask, what do these differences have to do with whether the two parties are willing to pay commercial tax? Why does Gao Pragmatic think that northern businessmen are easy to convince, but southern businessmen are not easy to persuade? Could it be that the consciousness of the merchants of the north is one level higher than that of the merchants of the south?

Of course, it's not a question of awareness, it's a question of how much to pay.

As I have said before, it is not that there are no scholars and senior officials to discuss whether to pay commercial taxes and how to pay them, in fact, there are a lot of discussions, but they are just engaged in it and there is no customization.

From the perspective of Gao Pragmatism, the most representative discussion of commercial taxation in the Ming Dynasty can not escape the two different opinions of Qiu Jun and Wang Fuzhi.

Those who support "closing the market and not levying it" include Qiu Jun and others, and those who agree with the view of levying business include Wang Fuzhi and others.

Qiu Jun introduced before that he advocated elevating the status of merchants, but on this issue, he advocated following the etiquette of the ancients and advocating "closing the market and not levying it".

Does he contradict himself? That's not the case, because he thinks that the adoption of a tax system for the "market" in ancient times was a "policy to suppress business", and that the original intention of the ancients to establish the city was "to patent the evil people to the end, so it is not beneficial to legislate to suppress it".

This means that in ancient times, the purpose of setting up a customs market was to regulate and manage merchants, and part of the taxation was also for the purpose of "suppressing merchants", not for profit. And "the later generations will be dedicated to the benefit of the country, not the ancients." As a result, he proposed raising the status of merchants, but did not agree to a full tax on merchants, a proposition that was now very supportive of by southern merchants.

But in fact, Gao Pragmatic knows that Qiu Jun's "closing the market and not levying it" is not a complete and complete non-levy.

Gao Pragmatic is quite familiar with Qiu Jun's writings, Qiu Jun once said, "The people have planted grains, and they have already paid taxes and taxes, and there is no reason to give them any more." Non-his bamboo and wood livestock than also. Bamboo, wood, livestock, etc., there was no tax on the original, so the merchants sold the goods in the customs market, and the officials could tax them. Isn't it heavy that the people of today pay rents in the official warehouse, and the city closes and levies taxes? This is not only not the king's government, but also the heavenly principle."

Therefore, Qiu Jun's meaning is not actually "no levy", but not "full levy", and there must be a distinction here. For example, if a peasant has already paid rent and taxes, and he sells the surplus grain in the market, and you have to ask him to pay another tax, then you are doubling taxation, which is not only unreasonable, but even immoral.

Gao Shishi agrees with this view, and believes that not only should grain not be "double-taxed", but also that people's daily necessities, such as cotton cloth, should also be taxed low, or even preferably tax-free.

But he can't just consider one person's point of view, although Wang Fuzhi is not even born yet, the point he advocates is not that no one has put forward, and Gao Shishi himself knows those views.

What is Wang Fuzhi's view? Unlike Qiu Jun of the Shixue School, Wang Fuzhi, who is more inclined to "moral realism" (but he cannot be considered to be the Xinxue School), has a more traditional anti-business attitude. He believes that "those who are businessmen are clever with villains and the like, and those who despise people's nature and thieves are their own extremes...... Yidi capitalists and businessmen are proud, and humanity is almost eternal destruction"; "Those who live the people are farmers, and those who kill the people are Jia".

It is precisely because he advocated the suppression of commerce that he advocated Liu Bang's view of "trapping and humiliating merchants" in his writings, and believed that "those who are businessmen must be suppressed by kings".

However, he also acknowledged that merchants were an important part of the economy, and that everyone (including merchants) had the obligation to pay taxes, "whether they were customers, natives, tenants, self-cultivators, merchants and merchants, or nomadic food, and ordered the slightest loss for the king's office."

Here, Wang Fuzhi abandoned the traditional idea of a single tax on agriculture and insisted that the commercial tax was a legitimate fiscal revenue, and not only should be taxed, but also some commodities that "get more for nothing" should also pay heavier taxes.

He also stressed that the expenditure of the national army should be financed by commercial taxes. For example, he once said in "Nightmare": "And like the Zhou system, the endowment of military chariots comes from the merchants, and the profits of the merchants are the ones who build the chariots, horses and cattle, and the leather, money, silk and linen, bamboo and wood, feathers, cloth and so on, are all handled by the merchants, and they are the expenses of the various bureaus of the arms and skins for firearms, and there is no doubt that the merchants should be responsible." ”

In addition to Wang Fu, there is also Ma Qing from the perspective of heavy agriculture and suppression of business to explain that the levy of commerce is in line with the ancient sage king law, he said: "and according to the establishment of our country's banknotes, non-direct taxation in and out, to the country, the real desire to suppress the end of the other, and return to the peasantry, the ancient sage king Nian Min, the meaning of the precious grain and cheap gold and jade, the good law is also, so the levy of the market, the king law is not abolished."

According to the emptiness of the national treasury at that time, it was also believed that the collection of commercial taxes "can be used for public purposes and relieve the people's resources". He also said: "Now that the silver is exhausted, the supply of the high walls is absolutely indispensable, and the people's strength is exhausted, which is really unbearable. "It provides a moral explanation for the rationality of the levy.

Subsequently, it was suggested that "and the world's traders who travel between the north and the south are all taxed through Linqing and other places, and those who follow the business of the west through Zhengyang are not taxed, and they are also uneven", and opened the Zhengyang tax customs on the grounds of average commercial tax.

By putting such representative ideas and views as these two of them, we can see how "distorted" Gao pragmatic attitude was in the eyes of the people of the time - Gao pragmatic advocated improving the status of businessmen and could not suppress businessmen, but he insisted that businessmen should pay commercial taxes.

In the eyes of ordinary people, since you want to value business, you should give businessmen a good business environment, and in the eyes of the world, the best business environment is, of course, that you don't have to pay taxes. Are you schizophrenic when you raise the merchant and ask the merchant to pay taxes at the same time?

Of course, Gao Pragmatism is not schizophrenic, he is just "seeking to be pragmatic" - this kind of thing is useless to analyze theoretically, you have to be able to implement it in practice, and what is the reality like now?

First of all, it is not possible to collect commercial taxes, and if a lame person wants to outperform a person with sound legs, how developed should his leg be? Daming is a cripple now, relying on that little agricultural tax support alone, but although Daming's farmers are indeed very strong in the world, no matter how strong they are, they can't stand such exploitation, and over time, this leg will have to be scrapped sooner or later.

Second, the purpose of the commercial tax is to relieve the pressure on the state, not to bring it down. If it is true that the tax is paid in all respects and the tax rate is the same, can those who sell grain compare their profits with those who sell technology (printing and dyeing, weaving, papermaking, etc.), can those who sell cotton cloth compare their profits with those who sell silk, and can those who sell bamboo and wood compare their profits with those who sell porcelain? Obviously not comparable.

If you can't compare, the problem comes. At present, most of the main business of northern merchants, except for Gao Shishi's own Jinghua system, should be summarized as "raw material trading", at most "rough processing industry". This kind of business generally has two characteristics: one is large, and the other is low added value of products.

Southern merchants were different, they were either engaged in high value-added industries, such as silk silk, porcelain, and paper; Either it is a "finishing industry", such as printing and dyeing, weaving, printing or even pen making. To put it simply, the "unit benefit" is very high, the added value of the product is very high, even if it is a small trade, the amount involved is not small.

In this way, if the Ming Dynasty's past taxation method is carried out in a one-size-fits-all manner, the businessman with low added value will simply not do it, because his profits will not become negative after deducting taxes.

For this reason, the practical school has made a not particularly detailed division of these things in the commercial tax implemented before.

To put it simply, with the current commercial tax, the tax rate levied on southern merchants is much higher than that of northern merchants, and only a very small number of "northern merchants" are heavily taxed - for example, there are many in Jinghua, such as cement, soap, etc., which are all heavy taxes, otherwise Gao Pragmatic would not have paid more than 1.7 million taels of silver every year.

However, Jinghua has its own particularity, and has always been regarded as an "exceptionalism", so it is not truly representative. In the eyes of the outside world, the commercial tax implemented by the current school of practice is a typical "north is light and south is heavy" - the tax rate paid by northern merchants is very low, and the tax rate paid by southern merchants is very heavy.

In fact, if you really look at the absolute value of this thing, the north is "extremely light", but the south is not heavy. Love Book House

Why? The average commercial tax in the north (excluding Jinghua) is only about one hundred and two (1%, 2%), and the southern businessmen only collected one hundred and five (5%) after Zhang Siwei took the opportunity to carry out a sneak attack, and did not include the entire south, only Nanzhili and Zhejiang are collecting, and neighboring provinces such as Jiangxi, Huguang, Fujian, etc. have not been implemented, not to mention the two Guangzhou.

Can a 5% tax rate also be called a heavy tax? Of course not, but that's not how the problem looks. There is a saying that "do not suffer from widowhood but suffer from unevenness", in the eyes of southern businessmen, this matter is very simple: why is your business tax only one hundred, and when you reach Lao Tzu, it becomes one hundred and five? Is Lao Tzu so easy to bully?

Of course, it's not easy to bully, there is a huge school of heart standing behind people!

The reason why it is difficult to reconcile the contradictions between the real school and the heart school is that "Taoism" is one thing, and interests are another.

Gao Pragmatic has always advocated steady and steady progress, and this time he has to work commercial taxation, one of the main reasons is that he knows that it is impossible to reconcile this contradiction, and he can only "take the opportunity to sneak attack" like his uncle Zhang Siwei.

To take advantage of the opportunity, you must first have a chance, so is there a chance now?

Yes.

The imperial court is generally anxious to ask for money when waiting for rice to be cooked, and this is an opportunity.

Originally, if the imperial court was in a hurry to ask for money to do other things, such as repairing the three major halls, the Heart School would have many reasons to refuse. However, now the reason for the imperial court to wait for money is very legitimate, dealing with the problem of the clan is a temptation that the Heart School cannot refuse, and the deeper reason is to defeat the Remnant Yuan, although the Heart School has nothing to do with this, but on the surface it is difficult to say no - this is the last wish of the two ancestors, do you refuse?

This is the reason why Gao Pragmatic chose to do it now, this opportunity was missed, and I am afraid that it will be more difficult in the future.

Hu Zhili was a little uncomfortable with Gao Pragmatism's words being so straightforward, he always felt that Gao Pragmatism seemed to treat him directly as a member of the Shixue School, and he was always a little restless after listening to it.

Of course, Cheng Wen didn't feel this way, he just groaned, thinking hard about whether this thing could be done.

As one of the high-level leaders of the Shixue School, Cheng Wen knew very well that the previous time Zhang Siwei levied a hundred and five commercial taxes in Nanzhili and Zhejiang, Shen Shixing was forced to agree, and then Shen Shixing himself was under huge internal pressure, and the reason why he was bent on introducing Wang Xijue into the cabinet was also the reason for this pressure.

Wang Xijue is the richest man in Suzhou, and he can represent the interests of the "gold lords" in the south better than him. Recommending Wang Xijue to the cabinet, on the one hand, can prove that he Shen Yuanfu has always been on the side of the gold lords, and on the other hand, it is also to let Wang Xijue share the firepower with him - in case there is such a thing in the future, you Wang Xijue should always be on the front line, right?

And because of the "lessons from the past" last time, Cheng Wen felt that Shen Shixing would definitely become more and more cautious about commercial tax matters, and he would become more and more resolute in opposing it.

Cheng Wen sighed and asked in a low voice, "If Yuanfu insists on not allowing it, does Situ plan to have a 'business tax discussion' with the Heart School on this?" ”

The term "business tax discussion" is obviously compared with the "big gift discussion". Of course, Gao Pragmatic can hear that this is Cheng Wen's emphasis on the huge impact of this matter, and it will affect the whole country like the great rites of the Jiajing Dynasty, and countless high-ranking officials and dignitaries have risen and fallen because of this.

Gao Pragmatic also knew that Cheng Wen's words were not false words and intimidation, and the reason why the Great Rites Discussion had a huge impact was actually the most critical reason that this incident divided the ministers, and it was the largest and most obvious political rift incident in the Ming Dynasty, and what followed was a comprehensive contest and tragic fight between the old and new forces in politics.

Will the "Commercial Tax Discussion" have an impact comparable to that of the "Great Gift Discussion"? It is likely that there will be, because once Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue choose to oppose it strongly, then the political pattern since Gao Gong Bingzheng will be completely broken.

The struggle between the Truth School and the Heart School will never again be the same as before, with each side guarding its own bottom line, testing and fighting for each other above the bottom line. Once the veil of warmth and affection is completely torn off, the two sides can only copy the guy and go into battle, and unless one side falls, it will be difficult to stop the war at all.

However, Cheng Wen, as one of the important ministers of the Shixue School, knows very well that the emperor may not want to see this scene now, he now just wants to raise money to open the ban on the domain, and then travel lightly, accumulate the materials and money needed to attack the remnants of the Yuan, and fulfill the last wishes of the two ancestors, and prosper the Ming Dynasty.

If this great cause can be accomplished, perhaps the emperor's temple name in the future will be "Ming Shengzong", or even "Ming Shengzu"!

Saint!

What is holy?

In the "Confession Law", it is said: Yang Shan Fu Jian is said to be sacred; Honoring the guests and saying that they are sacred; Humble oneself from admonishment and sacredness; Worship Heng Li and say holy; The people are holy; exhaustive reasoning is said to be sacred; The poor god is said to be holy; The prophet of access is said to be holy; The great and holy is said to be holy; Bo Shi Ji is said to be holy; Extremely deep study of a few saints; can listen to good counsel and say sacred; cut into heaven and earth and said sacred; Wisdom is said to be sacred; The people and the ability to say holy; Prepare things into a sacred; Prepare for the whole United States to say holy; It is difficult to deify the name of the saint.

To put it simply, it's perfect!

The temple name "Holy Ancestor" was founded in the Tang Dynasty, which was created by Tang Xuanzong Li Longji for his ancestor Laozi Li Er, and later became the emperor of the past dynasties to posthumously seal the ancestors of his family who are very holy. Later, the emperors with the name of the temple with the word "saint" were usually those who had the great cause of "redefining the world".

Completely annihilating the remnants of the Yuan, conquering the mortal enemy of the Ming Dynasty for 200 years, mixing the universe, and then establishing a new sky, can't such an emperor deserve a "saint" temple number?

On the other hand, with such a "future" in front of us, can we allow a division of the ministers like a great ritual discussion at this moment? Cheng Wen was very skeptical.

But Gao Shishi's face was very calm, and he only said: "The gentleman has something to do and something not to do." Reform of the old system will never be a smooth road, whether the road ahead is a deer to reject the horse, or the abyss, our generation only thinks of the world. Where righteousness lies, although tens of millions of people go to me. ”

Cheng Wen sighed and simply pointed out the main idea: "If the emperor is unwilling to see the dispute between my two factions at this moment, what then?" ”

"Then convince the emperor."

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