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Text Chapter 550 War Dividends

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    "The autumn harvest has just passed, and this year's grain has been harvested and put into the warehouse. There will be no disasters this year. It is a good harvest year. The people's warehouses are full, and the court has confidence. This time we will fight on both sides.  , Han Sengshou led his troops to Liaoxi, and Gao Jia led his troops to Hexi. If these two battles are completed as soon as possible, the court will launch another northern expedition to sweep the grassland. "Yi Feng is very satisfied with the current situation and continues as it is.  , and soon the imperial court will be able to achieve peace both internally and externally.  Yi Feng was very happy, but everyone at the Political Affairs Hall looked sad, especially Fan Zigai, the Minister of Civil Affairs, who had already made several concessions in his resignation letter.  The reason is very simple. Although the prime ministers of the Zhengshitang can no longer control the military, wars still require money, food and weapons, and the Zhengshitang is responsible for preparing these.  The mobilization of soldiers is easy to say, but the mobilization and transportation of grain and the supply of weapons are quite laborious and unrewarding tasks.  No matter how hard we try, it is always difficult to make the front line completely satisfied.  At present, Liaodong has seized hundreds of thousands of shi of grain from Liaodong City because of Li Jing, which has relieved a great burden on the prime ministers of the Political Hall.  However, once a war breaks out, in addition to the already high military salary burden, a large number of rewards and pensions must be distributed. Hundreds of thousands of troops are mobilized and provided with rewards. Several million are simply not enough to fill the gap.  According to the calculation table of military expenditures in the 19th year of the founding of the Emperor by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, this year's military expenditures have already exceeded 10 million yuan. This is only the military expenditure after the new emperor ascended the throne, and does not include the previous expenditures.  It had only been two months since the emperor took the throne, and military expenditures had already reached tens of millions. This made the nine prime ministers and deputy prime ministers of the Political Hall plan to resign collectively.  Under the emperor's new military system, hundreds of thousands of Beiya troops were paid, and their military salaries were not low. In addition, two hundred thousand Turks surrendered.  Now considered as mercenaries of the imperial court, they still need military salary and food.  In addition to the troops of Nanya and the border army, although they are compulsory soldiers and government soldiers, they usually do not get paid, but once they are called up to participate in the war.  But they have to give them quite a stipend.  Military salaries only accounted for a very small part of military expenditures, with the bulk being rewards and pensions. What particularly made Fan Zigai complain was what kind of insurance the emperor bought for his soldiers. The soldiers usually paid 100% of their monthly salary.  One part of the salary should be handed over to buy insurance, and the court would also add the same amount of money, and then there would be no war.  But once there was a war and the soldier died or became disabled, the court would have to pay a large sum of money.  If the soldier dies in battle, the insurance will cover up to sixty months of the soldier's usual salary, which is equivalent to a one-time payment of five years' salary.  And the rewards are really generous.  After a war, millions of dollars in military expenditures will be incurred.  ¡°Now the war in Liaodong is going to expand in scale, and troops are going to be sent out in Hexi. In addition, the emperor wants to move the capital to Luoyang at this time, and the canal project that the court has already started, it is simply asking for money everywhere.  The imperial court¡¯s taxes were basically fixed, and the land was equalized to all the people in the world, and then the rents were levied.  Apart from this tax, other commercial taxes generate too little revenue.  Fan Zi covered this money bag, and he couldn't help but find it difficult for a clever woman to make a living without food.  After Fan Zigai was cornered.  After three consecutive resignation memorials were directly vetoed by Yi Feng, he simply issued another memorial, borrowing 10 million yuan from the emperor's inner treasury in the name of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.  Looking at this memorial, Yi Feng couldn't help but smile.  This Fan Zigai was quite courageous, and he dared to ask the emperor to borrow so much money.  But look at this memorial.  Yi Feng also noticed the current tax policy of the Sui Dynasty.  It was already a little behind and couldn't keep up with the pace of the court's development. The Sui Dynasty had money, the world was peaceful, and commerce was flowing, so of course it would be rich.  However, the court's tax system was so backward that the court could not collect tax revenue at all.  Unless people of later generations open a shop or company, they generally won¡¯t feel that taxes have anything to do with them.  But in fact, everyone in future generations is paying taxes for the country, but the taxes of the country are deeply hidden.  Every product you buy has actually already paid taxes when it is circulated. The more links there are in circulation, the more taxes will be passed on to the product in the end. In the end, it will actually be passed on to the people who consume it. It¡¯s just that  There is no additional tax collected from everyone, so everyone just doesn¡¯t feel it.  But at this time, the tax system was too deceptive and backward. The court basically had no commercial taxes or customs duties, let alone house taxes, stamp taxes, and personal income taxes.  The most important tax of the imperial court was the rent tax, which was actually equivalent to a poll tax. The state distributed land to the people and then collected taxes according to dings. After a man turned 21, he was counted as a ding, and each ding paid to the country every year.  2 stones of millet are rented; 2 feet of silk and 3 taels of cotton (or 2 feet and 4 feet of cloth and 3 pounds of linen) are given as a tune; those who serve for 20 days are called regular servants. Those who do not serve will receive 3 feet of silk (or 3 pounds of cloth) every day.  3.6 feet), which is mediocre.  If the number of servicemen is increased due to special circumstances, the additional days will be offset against the rent and transfer. "If there are five days in ten days, the transfer will be exempted, and in the third ten days, all rent and transfer will be exempted." It is also limited that the total number of additional days and regular service shall not exceed 50 days.  After all, this is actually the Ding tax, which is the head tax.  This tax was fixed and did not change much, so the court's income was also fixed.  With this amount of income, it is enough to maintain expenses in peacetime, but it can be used in times of war, disasters, etc.It was not enough, so in the end it was necessary to add more taxes and levies, and then the ordinary people could not afford it. As a result, the land was filled with refugees and the fields were deserted. Then thieves and rebellions broke out.  The biggest drawback of the imperial court¡¯s tax is that it is distributed evenly.  Although the word "average" seems fair, in fact it is the greatest unfairness, because ordinary people cannot compare with those wealthy and powerful families. Ordinary people pay a tax of 100 cents as much as those big landowners.  How can a tax of a hundred cents mean the same thing?  The essence of taxation should be to receive the most wool from the fewest sheep and listen to the fewest sheep braying.  In other words, rich people pay more taxes, and people with less money pay less taxes. However, it is not a simple and crude way of directly taxing the rich. There must be skills to make the rich feel fair.  Just like the industrial and commercial tax that Yi Feng set up when he was pregnant, businessmen are the richest group of people. It would be much fair to collect taxes from them through various links such as industrial and commercial operations, rather than apportioning them directly.  The court can also receive more tax revenue without having to hear complaints from taxpayers.  Of course, the specific situation will not be so simple.  Yifeng is still thinking about how to reform the current tax system of the Sui Dynasty so that the court can increase revenue without causing social unrest.  And now, Fan Zigai wanted to borrow 10 million yuan from him, and Yi Feng agreed without hesitation.  But he didn't directly come up with the money himself. Of course Yi Feng had so much money, but he couldn't come up with so much cash even if he had money. Yi Feng's solution was as always, to directly ask the court to borrow money from the bank, and the bank's  In fact, the money does not come from him alone, but from countless depositors who deposit money into the bank.  The people's money finally went through the bank and was lent to the country. In a circle, the court got the money from the people, but in a different mode, the money had to be repaid with interest.  Fan Zigai was both happy and worried about this result. What made him happy was that he asked the emperor for 10 million, but the emperor actually got the money for him right away.  But what worries him is that the money was actually borrowed from a bank. Not only does it have to be paid back, but interest is also charged.  The annual interest rate is 6%, which is already the lowest interest rate offered by the bank. However, the interest alone is still 600,000 per year. With a five-year repayment period, after five years, the principal and interest will be repaid 1,300.  Ten thousand.  How much tax revenue does the imperial court earn each year now?  Fan Zigai thought for a long time, but couldn't figure out how to repay such a huge sum of money in five years.  And this battle has just begun.  Yi Feng was not that worried, and even smiled to comfort Fan Zigai, who was looking at the loan agreement in a daze: "Actually, there is no need to worry so much. After the imperial army captures the Liaohe Plain and even the Liaodong Peninsula, how many tens of millions will be enough?"  "I'm back." "Even if we take the Liaodong Peninsula, we won't be able to sell it for much money. What about a remote place?" Fan Zigai didn't believe it.  "You have an old idea. The Liaohe Plain is so fertile. How much farmland can be cultivated? How much food can be harvested every year? And the medicinal materials, timber and even livestock and mines in the Liaodong Peninsula are not valuable? The imperial court cannot develop it, so it can be contracted  If you go out and develop it for private parties, the court can just reap the benefits. The land is priceless. A vast Liaohe Plain, plus a Liaodong Peninsula, let alone 10 million yuan, is a guaranteed profit.  . In addition to losing the war, as long as you win, you will never lose money, and you will only make a fortune. Even if the rewards and pensions given to the soldiers are large, it is completely worth it." Yi Feng said to Fan Zigai.  "But wars are always risky. Now that the court is spending so much money to fight this war, this money is borrowed from the people's savings. What if, I mean, if it fails, what will the court do?" "Che  There must be a way to the mountain. Although there is no guarantee of victory in the war, as long as our calculations are accurate, there is not much possibility of failure. " Fan Zigai sat there and thought for a long time, and finally said suddenly, "That little minister.  I want to borrow another ten million." Yi Feng was stunned. "Can you afford to borrow another ten million?" Fan Zigai smiled slyly, "I don't have the ability, but I believe that your Majesty has the ability."  Yi Feng couldn't help but laugh out loud, and finally had to shake his head. He didn't expect that Fan Zigai, who was usually such a serious person, would have times like this. However, after thinking about it, he said, "Okay, it's not impossible to add an additional ten million."  Okay, anyway, I am absolutely sure that I can get the money back. " "Then there will be no problem. With these 20 million, there will be no need for the Liaodong War, the Hexi War, moving the capital to Luoyang, digging canals, etc.  No more worries about running out of money.¡± (To be continued)
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