When Deng Ming led the soldiers and horses to Wuchang, the main force of the Ming army was still on the way, and the forwards Ren Tang and Zhou Kaihuang, who entered Jiangxi, had just set off to catch up with the large army at this time.

When Ren Tang and Zhou Kaihuang took the newly established women's battalion to Wuchang, they found that Deng Ming was worried about the transaction, and he had just summoned the warehouse guards who stayed in Wuchang and Hanyang, and as a result, he discovered the problem of the Industrial Bank's IOU substitution notes.

"Are you Chengdu Industrial Bank? You are obviously 'ruining the Chengdu Industrial Bank'! Deng Ming asked Yu Youming to hand over the purchase order of the Industrial Bank, but the latter's foundation was unstable and he didn't dare to hide it from Deng Ming, so he honestly took out the account book; After seeing that all the industrial products bought by the bank, Deng Ming was shocked and angry. Wuhan's industrial products are huge and cheap, and Chengdu's blacksmith shops, at least at the time of Deng Ming's departure, were basically self-employed, just beginning to evolve into large-scale handicraft workshops.

"But Admiral, with these farm tools, agriculture has developed." Yu Youming hurriedly argued.

"Yes, I know, but there must be a high tax to ensure that the imported tools are not lower than the price of the goods produced by the prefecture itself." Deng Ming also knew that this was an element of exploitation of Chengdu peasants, but the meat was rotten in the pot, and as long as the money was earned by the Chengdu locals, it didn't matter: "If there is no profit, the blacksmith shop will go bankrupt, and even if it does not go bankrupt, they will not be able to hire more people to expand production, let alone have the money to train workers." Farming is important, but can you grow armor, firecrackers, and cannons just by farming? ”

Deng Ming originally wanted to rely on IOUs to tempt Wuchang people to set up workshops in Chengdu, even if they spontaneously reclaimed land for Chengdu immigrants, but now Yu Youming's actions led to Deng Ming's plans have all come to naught. In addition to being angry, Deng Ming called Pu Fu to reprimand: "Aren't you the deputy director of the Taxation Bureau?" Don't you remember that I was going to charge a high tax on the input tools? ”

It's not that Pu Fu doesn't remember, but the tax bureau has an interest in Yu Youming's bank, and in the past few months, Pu Fu has also taken some benefits from Wuchang and made a small fortune. Of course, this Pu Fu will never admit it to Deng Ming, and he argues that the Industrial Bank has opened some workshops in Chengdu, so theoretically speaking, Yu Youming is not buying tools, but tool parts; What was sold in Chengdu was not Huguang's tools, but locally produced tools assembled in Chengdu, thus avoiding Deng Ming's tax permit.

"You guys even figured out this trick yourself, I really underestimated you!" Deng Ming was even more angry, but after thinking about it carefully, it seemed that there were indeed loopholes in his original regulations.

The only thing that made Deng Ming happy was that the salt merchants withstood the pressure of the Industrial Bank and the Taxation Bureau, and the five major salt merchants in Chengdu are currently implementing a rotation system, and now Lu Huan is responsible for managing accounts in Wuchang.

Lu Huan reported to Deng Ming that the average daily shipment of Sichuan salt to Wuchang has reached 40,000 catties, which basically meets the needs of Huguang, and Deng Ming's operations in the lower reaches have caused Huaiyan to collapse, and the salt merchants in Chengdu are full of confidence in the prospects, and have spontaneously paid for exploration in Xuzhou, preparing to open up some salt farms there.

The salt merchants had a good relationship with Liu Jinge, and after seeing Deng Ming, Lu Huan tried his best to distinguish for Liu Jinge, saying that Liu Jinge was not responsible for this matter.

These goods were won by the army, and Deng Ming set a higher tax rate than salt, and only about 20% of the profits reserved for the merchants. But Liu Jinge had no idea how much loot Deng Ming had brought back to Wuchang from downstream, so he didn't know how much tax the tax bureau should pay to him. Although the taxes payable by the Industrial Bank of China on behalf of the IOUs were reduced to about half of the original, the amount was still quite large - the ransom fees, military expenses, compensation, and government treasury retribution that the Ming army received from the downstream were astronomical, even if the cost of Deng Ming was as high as millions of taels of silver, and after several rounds of trade, the amount was even larger, so Liu Jinge was already overjoyed.

The salt merchants can be regarded as half of Liu Jinge's eyes and ears in Wuchang, but since they have no right to check the account books of the treasury, they cannot provide accurate figures to the Liu governor's mansion, that is, today Lu Huan learned from Deng Ming that the taxes that Chengdu could get should be twice as much as the existing one.

"If the Industrial Bank made a lot of money, I wouldn't be so angry, but they didn't make a lot of money, and the benefits were shared by the gentry here in Wuchang." Deng Ming complained to Lu Huan: "Yu Youming, I don't know how to say that he is good, he tried his best to help Wuchang dump goods in Chengdu, and he repeatedly suffered losses in pricing, and he was complacent when he got some leftovers left by others, and he thought he had made a lot of money." ”

There was an agreement with an IOU on the table, and Deng Ming pointed to the agreement and scolded: "The waterway control of the Yangtze River is in our hands, obviously people are begging us to buy goods, and there is actually a compensation clause, or a profit!" Look at the following article again, this voucher actually needs a deposit of one percent, such a profiteer in Wuchang, why don't they simply ask for a full deposit? Let our army work for them completely. ”

"The Admiral doesn't have to worry," Lu Huan explained

"This is not what the Admiral meant, the Admiral doesn't admit it. ”

"Hmm." Deng Ming replied softly, if this agreement was more harsh, he would probably tear up the agreement regardless of it, but this agreement was quite cleverly set, although it infringed on the interests of the Ming army, but it seemed to be within the tolerable range, which made Deng Ming a little dilemma. After thinking for a while, Deng Ming still shook his head and said: "It's not proper, although Yu Youming and Pu Fu have no right to sign such an agreement at all, but the people here in Wuchang think that they have; It's easy for me to declare this agreement invalid, and there's nothing unjustifiable, but the people here in Wuchang will think that I have gone back on my word, and as soon as this case is opened, they will doubt our credibility in the future. ”

After all, Wuchang is still a Manchu controlled area, Deng Ming can carry on the business smoothly, and Cheng Dùshang still relies on his good credit, so he is also a mouse trap: "Lu Chenyin doesn't have this vision, there must be a good thing for Zhou Peigong here, his conditions are very cunning, not insatiable, I am not willing to lose both." ”

couldn't think of any good way for a while, Deng Ming casually praised Lu Huan: "You still understand things and don't follow Park to bother them with stupidity." ”

"It's all our own business, we can't help it." Lu Huan was still an auxiliary soldier two years ago, and he was also overjoyed when he heard Deng Ming praise himself.

"Oh." These words made Deng Ming realize, and he asked: "You don't accept this IOU credential, don't you have any opinions on the Wuchang side?" ”

"At the beginning, there was, Lu Chenyin also went to reason with Boss Ye, but Boss Ye bluntly told him that these Sichuan salts are the personal property of our salt merchants, not the goods of the Admiral, so he will not be entangled." As for the one-third of the special goods withheld by the salt merchants, they were exchanged for pig iron and ploughing cattle to offset the taxes according to Liu Jinge's instructions, and those goods were also subsidized by Liu Jinge to the commercial houses in Chengdu according to Deng Ming's previous model to support their development.

"Well, that's true." Deng Ming suddenly realized the problem, his goods in Wuchang were all public, and most people would involuntarily not cherish the public things, or if the public things could be exchanged for some private benefits for them, they would not have any pity.

"This matter has been my problem from beginning to end, and the tax bureau should not be responsible for supervising the sale of goods, so it is no wonder that Yu Youming and Pu Fu are troubled." Deng Ming pondered for a while, and then asked Lu Huan's opinion: "If I change the rules, and all the loot is not sold directly to the people of Wuchang, but is auctioned to the merchants of the capital first, and then let them trade with the people of Wuchang, do you think anyone will buy it?" ”

Lu Huan pondered for a while and asked, "How much does the Admiral plan to sell, and how to collect taxes?" ”

Deng Ming plans to use the bidding model, and then divide the goods to the commercial houses in Chengdu to bid, the highest price wins, these goods are already private property when they are transported to Wuchang, and then the owner of the goods and Lu Chenyin to do business, if the merchants in Chengdu are stronger in the future to follow the army, the Ming army can sell the spoils on the spot after the war: "The prefect's yamen or the tax bureau is no longer responsible for the pricing and sale of goods, but I will set a rule for these goods, one-third of them must be kept and only IOUs are accepted, Judge for yelves, how much it is worth paying for it. ”

Lu Huan thought for a moment and asked hopefully, "Then can we salt merchants also participate in this bidding?" ”

"Yes, your money, how you want to spend it is your business."

However, Lu Huan reminded Deng Ming that he also talked about credit problems just now.

"Things are coming step by step, and now even if I want to sell all the goods to the merchants of the capital, no one can afford to buy them, right? Even if you look for a bank loan, no bank can have so much money; I can auction the porcelain that will be shipped later, and tell Lu Chenyin that if they want to buy porcelain in the future, don't look for me, and go and talk to the porcelain merchant yourself; After a few months, half a year, I will sell the tea leaves, and then the silk...... In the end, don't ask me for anything you want to do, just talk to the merchants in the capital. ”

After Jiangxi implemented the policy of unified purchasing and marketing, Jiang Guozhu and Zhang Changgeng also began to use similar brains, and they both realized that this official and business model would help the government to accumulate wealth. However, Deng Ming did the opposite, which is certainly not good for the government's accumulation, but it may be beneficial to increase Chengdu's overall income.

Lu Huan obviously saw this, and his knowledge has been constantly expanded since he started business: "In this way, the admiral will earn less money." ”

"If you refuse to pay me taxes, it will be less, but if I can't keep shipping safe, then your business won't be able to continue, will it? Quite simply, if the cost of protecting salt is less than the tax revenue, I will give up protecting salt; If the cost of protecting the silk trade cannot be recovered from the silk tax, I will no longer protect the silk merchants, it's as simple as that. You are businessmen who sell salt, and I, who run a government, are also businessmen. ”

After sending Lu Huan away, the guards reported that He Zhen had rushed to the barracks to ask for a meeting.