Chapter 999: Taxes

"The British are earning three million pounds this year. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. biqUgE怂 "So far, their chattel tax has been increased thirty-seven times, the secular grant has been increased twenty-two times, and the clerical allowance has been increased twenty-two times, plus the customs revenue, the total income is three million and one hundred and fifty thousand pounds, and the direct income of the royal family has also increased by more than two hundred thousand pounds. We have to be careful, Formosa's castle, we must speed up the construction! ā€

The tax on movable property is levied on the basis of people's property, while the taxes on clergy and secular grants are religious taxes, and after repeated tax increases, the per capita tax burden of the British has increased from about 0.1 pound to 0.15 pounds under Henry II, an increase of considerable amount. And that's just the direct tax, and there are a lot of tax increases for trading companies.

For example, last year the tax on the Wool Import and Export Company exceeded 100,000 pounds, a tenfold increase from 200 years ago, the tax on wine, woolen wool and other goods of the merchant venture company exceeded 400,000 pounds, and the tax on the Hanseatic Merchant League also exceeded 100,000 pounds.

In addition, the debt ratio of the Queen of England has also increased significantly, when George and Edward and other kings borrowed tens of thousands of pounds and were scared to death, now Queen Elizabeth's debt has exceeded 460,000 pounds, directly to 500,000 pounds.

Song Ke didn't say too much to Gao Wenlu, the defeated general, in addition to the honor and courage of the soldiers, the important thing is the battleship and artillery, these things are to be bought with real money, in comparison, the emerging Britain is a pure empire, and the Dutch are an alliance of bankers and navigators after all, this alliance is too scattered, resulting in the prosperity and wealth of civil trade, and the number of merchant ships can not be converted into war strength, in contrast, the British system at this time still has the remnants of royal government and religion, A few decades later, there were wars in which the king was guillotined, but the more such a system was, the more powerful it was in warfare than the Dutch.

As the incoming governor of Taiwan, Song Ke's thoughts are of course much more complicated and far-reaching than those of a pure general like Gao Wenlu.

"In short, I have controlled Formosa, and the trade is much smoother everywhere, the raw silk trade, the deerskin trade, the cane sugar, the porcelain, ......" Gao Wenlu took another drink and laughed: "The future is bright, I am already looking forward to my retirement life after returning to Europe." ā€

Song Ke smiled: "Why go back to Europe, it's good to retire in Batavia or even Formosa." I just wanted to stay in Formosa, the scenery is good, the climate is good, and it is so much fun to look at the blue sea and fish leisurely. ā€

"Your Excellency the Governor is right, and I will consider it."

Song Ke's heart moved, and he suddenly said: "How are the Ming people in Bengang Shizhai recently, I heard that they get along very well with Li Dan's son Li Guozhu." The Ming pirate civil strife that we were expecting did not seem to have happened. ā€

"Yes." Gao Wenlu said: "This is really disappointing. ā€

Song Ke muttered, "I heard that their leader has also changed, from southerners to a group of merchants from the north. They have a strong force, mainly musketeers? ā€

"Yes," Gao Wenlu said: "We also have warehouses and moored ships in Bengang, those Ming people in the north are sent by a Hutchison trading house, they also have their own ships, and after crossing the power of the Yan clan, they received the ships of Shizhai, and now they also have more than 20 merchant ships and warships, and their strength is quite good...... Of course, it's still far from us. Their main trade point is the shipping route to Japan and Luzon, but their relationship with the Spaniards is very bad, most of them are entrepot trade, because because of our restrictions, the Spanish merchant ships have no way to come, and I don't think their profit growth point is too high. ā€

Song Ke said: "Do they have any plans to grab maritime territory with us?" ā€

Gao Wenlu smiled and said, "Their naval strength is not even a fraction of ours...... All the ships combined can't beat the Batavia. ā€

"But ......," Gao Wenlu muttered, "According to intelligence, Hutchison's warships were taxed at sea, and there were frictions with our merchant ships, and on Formosa Island, which is the so-called Dongfan Island of the Ming Imperial Court, and on the island of Taiwan that Hutchison said they said, Hutchison also kept pushing inland. They were clever in their methods, using small fortresses with cavalry and large numbers of musketeers to advance, and there was no way to fight the natives. However, they are relatively soft on the natives, and have always refused to use the means of slaughter, and I think it is difficult for them to really control the territory they have conquered. ā€

"The people of the Ming Kingdom are a country of civilized people in the end, and they will not be unscrupulous in places close to their own territory."

Song Ke's explanation was close to the colonizer's mentality, and Gao Wenlu nodded in agreement.

"We can't sit back and let them develop." Song Ke said: "On land, our strength is temporarily insufficient. The people of Hutchison heard that there were thousands, and there were a large number of musketeers, and I felt that it was even more difficult to fight than the Ming naval division. As for the sea, their strength is far behind. Since they are taxing at sea, we are going around sabotaging their taxing practices, constantly weakening their maritime trade, and striking down their cash income, which will make it difficult for them to sustain themselves. However, this kind of initiative must be carried out slowly, after all, we have not yet established a stable foothold, and we should do our best first. ā€

Gao Wenlu said: "If this is the case, we need to transfer more warships." ā€

Song Kedao: "First wait for us to get out of Penghu, and then transport materials to build Fort Geranza, and when the fortress is built, we will choose a site to build a second fortress, or even a third, with the fort as the center, clear the natives, stabilize the strength, do business with the merchants of the Ming Kingdom, and grab the commercial territory of Hutchison, and at the same time I will transfer large warships from Batavia to show my strength, at that time we can rub with the battleships of Hutchison at sea, and even really give them a war, and subdue these Ming merchants, Our strategic layout in East Asia and Southeast Asia can be truly completed smoothly. ā€

Song Ke said with a serious face: "Before that, we must be cautious and careful, do not give the truth to Hutchi, and do not expose our strategic goals." To give them the illusion that we just need a port base for trade entrepots, as we did in Bengang, and that if we want to make a move, we will strike a thunderbolt, so that Hutchison can feel our strength and determination! ā€

"Yes!" Gao Wenlu stood up and agreed.

……

"Lord Junmen, this is this season's dividend."

In front of Li Pingzhi are more than ten silver boxes, each containing more than 200 catties and more than 2,000 taels, and the dividend to Zheng Guochang this season is more than 20,000 taels.

Nominally speaking, Zheng Guochang has dry shares in the grassland layout in the north of Hutchison, which is the same treatment as Ma Chengen. In the process of the rise of Hutchison, Zheng Guochang and Ma Chengen contributed the most, and of course they made the most profits. Ma Chengen was transferred to Jinzhou, and he has not suffered a loss so far, and his performance is quite eye-catching, which is much stronger than Ma Shilong, the general soldier of Liaozhen supported by Sun Chengzong...... Ma Shilong is also a family of the Western Army, but the strength of the family is too weak, not to mention that it cannot be compared with the Ma family, that is, the current Jiangmen of Liaoxi, the ancestral family does not mention it, and the strength of the rest of the generals below, Ma Shilong is far from being compared, Sun Chengzong is also considering balancing the strength of the Jiangmen of Liaoxi, and deliberately pushes Ma Shilong and others to the top, the Jiangmen of Liaoxi is far less majestic than ten years later, and he can only pinch his nose and endure the decision of Sun Gelao if he is dissatisfied. However, this also led to the centrifugation of Liaoxi, and the generals did not work hard, and the evil consequences were about to appear.

In addition to Zheng Guochang's great efforts in the layout in the north, on the Fujian side, Hutchison has been able to quickly open up the situation in the past six months, of course, it is also closely related to Zheng Guochang.

The captured warships of the Dutch were sold to Hutchison cheaply, and the smooth handover, and the pressure on Xu Xinsu and other wealthy businessmen enabled Hutchison to buy cheap and sufficient raw silk, and established friendship with the Fujian sailors, and Yu Zhigao and other sailor generals also began to communicate with Hutchison because of Zheng Guochang's face...... You must know that in the eyes of serious sailors and generals, how can there be any truly good maritime merchants? If you say it's a maritime merchant, it's a pirate!

Historically, Yu Zhigao was a force to dispel public opinion, and refused to recruit Zheng Zhilong and other pirates, and he must lead the sailors to clean up, but the result was a fiasco, the essence of the guards was lost, and Yu Zhigao himself was arrested and beheaded.

Hutchison has always given the impression that the sailors are law-abiding, and the reclamation in Taiwan is also a good thing, absorbing a lot of poor people along the coast, of course, Zheng Guochang still supports this matter, otherwise according to the past practice, the people will not be allowed to leave their hometowns at will, because overseas people do not obey the king, and belong to the land outside the country, and the Central Plains Emperor will certainly not allow the people under his rule to leave at will. The so-called state of abandoning parents is not a pity to die, and this kind of talk is not without a market.

Zheng Guochang helped a lot, this time Li Pingzhi took the silver sent by the Taiwan Marching Division, and of course there was a share of the dividends in the north.

The old man accepted it shyly. Zheng Guochang waved his sleeves without fireworks, and naturally a servant came over to carry the silver box in. With so much silver, everyone was smiling.

"Lord Junmen." Li Pingzhi smiled again: "Master Yu, the Lord of Haiphong Daosun has a copy each, and it has been sent to your lords' mansions. ā€

"Oh, good." Zheng Guochang is indeed a little worried, Hutchison will never dare to slack off on himself, but will it be easy to ignore the rest of the officials in Fujian because he is too close to him, especially a senior general like Yu Zhigao, that is definitely not to be neglected.

Hearing Li Pingzhi's words, Zheng Guochang's face showed a look of satisfaction, he thought about it, and said: "I heard that Hutchison is still a little short of money in the north. You just say it to Wen Lan for me, don't send the dividends in the past few months, thousands of miles away, he doesn't have enough silver, why bother with this. ā€

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The overhead novel is really thankless.,The first few hundred words are to check the tax rate and various tax laws in the UK at the time.,There are a lot of pdf.,It's a few hundred words that come out of the reaction.,No way.,Obsessive-compulsive disorder.怂