The Song Dynasty can be said to be a peculiarity among feudal dynasties, because it is the only feudal dynasty in Chinese history in which commercial taxes exceeded agricultural taxes on a large scale.
According to statistics, the commercial tax in the Northern Song Dynasty was dozens of times that of the later Ming Dynasty.
All of this was first of all due to the Commercial Tax Regulations promulgated by Emperor Taizu of Song Dynasty, which was the first commercial tax law promulgated by the government in China. The Commercial Tax Regulations stipulated the types of taxable goods, tax types, tax rates, and the treatment of tax evasion and tax evasion.
This not only ended the chaos of commercial taxes during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, but also pushed the commercial development of the Northern Song Dynasty to an unimaginable peak.
This also shows the importance of this legal system.
However, with the outbreak of the financial crisis of the Song Dynasty, various problems arose with this commercial tax.
In ancient times, it was very difficult to collect commercial taxes. No one would be stupid enough to give money to you. You had to pay someone to collect the taxes, which was a necessary expense.
However, when facing a fiscal crisis, the country wants to reduce expenditures and increase revenues at the same time, but these two are very contradictory, because the country's current revenue mainly comes from taxes, while the main expenditures are war expenses and official salaries. Military expenses cannot be reduced, so to reduce expenditures, jobs have to be laid off, but once jobs are laid off, there will be fewer people collecting taxes, and taxes cannot be collected.
At present, many ministers are criticizing Wang Anshi’s new policies, which also involve this issue. Wang Anshi wants to increase revenue, and increasing revenue requires recruiting people, which will increase the financial burden.
For example, in order to implement the Qingmiao Law well, a group of people had to be hired to collect debts, which would obviously increase the financial burden, which was very contradictory to Sima Guang's austerity policy.
But the world is round, and as long as you are greedy enough, you will always find a way.
How to achieve this is very simple, just replace fixed salary expenditures with rewards and commissions.
In fact, using rewards and commissions to motivate staff to collect taxes is a very reasonable approach, but using it to replace fixed expenses will definitely cause problems.
The court had to keep its money, so it could only acquiesce in their collection of taxes not in accordance with the tax law.
Once there is no law, fists will have to speak.
For example, regarding over-taxation, according to the Commercial Tax Regulations, the national over-taxation regulation is 2%, but currently the over-taxation in many places in Hezhong Prefecture has reached 20%.
They even directly closed the wide trade routes that were difficult to collect taxes on, forcing merchants to cross bridges or take narrow roads, and then set up checkpoints there to exploit the merchants.
To put it bluntly, this is a kind of bandit logic that replaces legal principles in order to quickly gain wealth.
That is why when the procuratorate accused them, they retorted with confidence that it was the court that allowed us to do so, and that what you are doing now is actually killing the donkey after it has served its purpose, which is extremely unfair.
But this situation is obviously not conducive to business development, and Zhang Fei wants to revitalize the judiciary. How could he allow this situation to continue
In addition, Wang Anshi also realized that this problem was very serious, because officials did not take care of things, and the people who were really in charge were the clerks, but they did not receive salaries, only a little bit of welfare. They had power but no money. What do you think they would do
The first step of Wang Anshi's governing officials was to pay them wages, but he did not single it out separately, but included it in the exemption tax for implementation.
It can be seen that Wang Anshi was a complete mess when it came to propaganda.
This decree should actually be publicized in a big way, while the Qingmiao Law should be promoted in a low-key manner, because one is about giving out money and the other is about collecting interest. Of course, the emphasis should be placed on giving out money, so as to win the hearts of the people.
Perhaps Wang Anshi did not have much confidence in this. After all, his main purpose was to make money for the country.
But no matter what, Zhang Fei and Wang Anshi reached a consensus on increasing the salaries of officials, so Zhang Fei had the confidence to let Su Che negotiate with them and expressed his willingness to fight for salaries for the officials.
Because the fundamental reason for undermining the judiciary is the failure to pay salaries, the salaries must be made up.
However, finance is not under the jurisdiction of the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs, but is the responsibility of the Transportation Bureau.
The government is still negotiating with the procuratorate, but both sides are unwilling to make concessions.
When the officials below saw that the procuratorate would not give in, they made even more noise, but they were also very cunning and chose to go on strike specifically on matters involving tax collection, with the aim of preventing the government from collecting any money. They wanted to see who could last longer.
Currently, tax collection in the entire Hezhong Prefecture is in a state of paralysis.
These officials knew very well that they would compromise as long as the court could not collect the money.
This is also why Cai Yanqing is so anxious.
However, the procuratorate is still very strong. It only said that it does not need to settle old accounts, but this kind of behavior will never be allowed to continue. If the court owes salaries, you can sue, but you cannot use this method to make money.
You can strike if you want, it has nothing to do with me. Not only that, the procuratorate seemed to lose patience when it saw that the other party refused to compromise and began to prosecute those who were arrested.
The officials outside were still resisting stubbornly, but those inside could not stand it, because in the reconciliation agreement with the procuratorate, the punishment was very light. It was just returning what had been occupied to others and then fining them some money, and there would be no criminal punishment involved.
They are all rich people now and are unwilling to take the risk.
In addition, those spies were also lobbying them that the procuratorate had solid evidence and that they would definitely not win the lawsuit. If they took the case to the imperial court, they would certainly be punished.
At the same time, the police station did not stop there. They suddenly sent people to take over the prison in Hezhong Prefecture on the grounds that the prison lacked management.
Those few prison bosses were no match for the hundreds of well-equipped Royal Police.
This caused a great shock among the government. Are you going to replace all of us
Government office.
"Zhuo Zhubu, what did they say?"
Seeing Zhuo Qun entering the hall, Wei Yingfang immediately asked.
Zhuo Qun said: "The police station said that the procuratorate is currently preparing to prosecute, and the number of prisoners will increase at that time, but the prison has not cooperated with them, and recently closed the prison due to lack of manpower. They had no choice but to choose to do this.
At the same time, they also produced official documents from the court. According to the court's regulations, this police station already includes prison guards, and at that time the police station will separate an office specifically for managing prisons.
Moreover, they decided to close the prison and convert the prison property into a temporary prison for the police station to detain suspects who have not yet been tried. At the same time, they will build a prison outside the city specifically for detaining prisoners. "
After hearing these words, Wei Yingfang and the others were stunned.
They never imagined that the police station had such great power.
The police station recruits so many people not entirely for public security. In the future, they will be divided into tax police, prison guards, court guards, and some prosecutors.
Liu Daxing suddenly stood up and said, "Prefect Cai, Scholar Yuan, you have all seen it. Now this police station is also going to ride on our heads. By then, the entire Hezhong Prefecture will obey their public security, procuratorate and courts. Who will still take us seriously?"
As a county lieutenant, equivalent to the director of the Public Security Bureau, he is the most anxious when facing the aggressiveness of the police station. Once the police station completely takes over the public security duties, he will be unemployed!
“This is a conspiracy.”
Yuan Jiang suddenly said.
Cai Yanqing immediately looked at him and said, "You finally spoke. Let's see how you're going to explain it this time."
"conspiracy?"
Everyone was stunned and looked at Yuan Jiang in surprise.
Yuan Jiang glanced at them and said, "Don't you think this scene looks familiar?"
Deja vu
Yeah
Zhuo Qun suddenly asked, "What Mr. Yuan is referring to is disarmament?"
"Exactly."
Yuan Jiang said: "Isn't this how the army was cut? The public security, procuratorial and judicial organs created financial problems, we wrote to the court to complain, and then they advised the court to cut the army.
At that time, they wanted to repeat their old tricks and keep putting pressure on the government, forcing us to appeal to the court, and then they forced the court to cut down on officials on the grounds that there were too many officials. "
"Not bad!"
He Chunlin turned pale immediately and nodded continuously: "Master Yuan is absolutely right, their goal is to lay off officials, we can't let them succeed again!"
They don't mind cutting the military, but they can't accept cutting the number of officials!
That little bit of compensation was a lot for the soldiers, but for the officials, it was not even enough to send away beggars!
The officials present couldn't help but feel their hair stand on end.
What a good move. Cai Yanqing sighed to himself, and immediately took over the job and asked, "According to Master Yuan's opinion, how should we deal with it?"
Everyone looked at Yuan Jiang.
After some careful consideration, Yuan Jiang said, "Take advantage of their own strategy."
"Take advantage of their own tactic?"
"good."
Yuan Jiang nodded and said, "Their goal is to force us to appeal to the court and suggest that the court cut down on officials. But we won't appeal. We will just do as they say and pay every official a full salary, not a penny less."
Wei Yingfang couldn't help but ask: "Do we have so much money?"
Yuan Jiang said: "We can issue salt debts and salt notes to make up for this financial problem."
Cao Yi frowned and said, "But the salt debt and salt notes must be repaid with salt."
Yuan Jiang smiled and said, "We'll talk about it later. If we really can't pay it back, we can push the responsibility to the public security, procuratorate and courts when the court investigates us. If we appeal now, we are in the wrong in terms of legal principles. Only by letting the court understand our real difficulties will the court forgive us, and giving money can also appease the officials below."
Everyone nodded frequently after hearing this.
This is really a good idea!
Currently, the procuratorate holds the evidence, and they cannot gain any advantage by reporting it to the court. Now they are spending money that they have earned in the next year, and when the time comes they will not be able to pay it back, and they will push the responsibility onto the public security, procuratorate and courts. Then the court will naturally bear them in mind and tacitly allow them to make money for the country.
Everything will return to the way it was.
The key is to be able to give money to everyone, which is also a good thing to win people's hearts!
It’s really a profitable business!
Wei Yingfang asked: "So what should we do now?"
Yuan Jiang said: "You should immediately count the number of officials in Hezhong Prefecture and formulate a salary for them based on their official duties, which should be enough for them to support their families in Hukou. Then they can directly submit their salaries to the Changping Division every month.
But you must also remember one thing, do not cheat in it, because the procuratorate will definitely be watching, and once they catch you, they will definitely ask the court to cut the official. "
When it comes to layoffs, everyone is very nervous.
This is definitely not a joke, because many ministers in the court want to cut down on the number of officials, and the problem of redundant officials has been raised every year.
No one wants to lose their official position, and this must be taken seriously.
Cai Yanqing suddenly asked: "How should we deal with the procuratorate?"
Yuan Jiang sighed, "We can only reach a settlement with them. Everyone should give their money to avoid disaster. After all, those people in there can't stand it anymore."
His suggestion was quickly recognized by everyone.
After the meeting, Wei Yingfang and his colleagues went to discuss with those officials to ensure that the public security, procuratorate and courts would not hold them accountable, and that they would be given sufficient salaries. If they were paid too little, they would make trouble again.
Most officials were willing to accept this condition, because most of them could not make much money and their lives were very tight. It was not easy to ask for money from the people. If they were ruthless enough, their salaries would be much more stable. They believed that this was a blessing in disguise.
As for those few evil officials, there was nothing they could do, because their people were now detained in the police station, and they were not willing to risk their own lives and property.
In the end, the procuratorate also guaranteed that they could continue to do business, but they could no longer break the law.
The government also sent spies to negotiate a settlement agreement with the procuratorate, one case at a time, to see how to compensate and punish.
During this period, the procuratorate was in the limelight and demonstrated its powers to the fullest. These people suddenly discovered that the procuratorate not only had the power of investigation, but also had the power to decide whether to prosecute.
It does not mean that one must be prosecuted if one breaks the law. The procuratorate can implement specific plans based on the specific circumstances.
This power is very dangerous, and the Imperial Court is scary, but the prerequisite is that you have to be sued in the Imperial Court. But you can choose not to go, and you can negotiate with the Procuratorate.
... ... .
The Procuratorate and the Police Station have stopped all matters. The Royal Court is relatively relaxed and has been busy with matters related to the Law School and the Legal Aid Department.
Zhang Fei plans to have all the students who have passed the law examination help out at the Legal Aid Department first. Since the Legal Aid Department happens to be short of staff, he can treat it as homework and give them a little living allowance, because the law school is currently unable to hold classes every day and there are no professional professors for the time being.
The four little golden men still have to put their official duties first. In addition, most of these students have a background in law, so they should be taught more about the concept of the rule of law and the operating model of the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs.
However, due to Fan Zheng's arrival today, Zhang Fei had to put down his work and go to Da Gou's restaurant to discuss with Fan Zheng.
"How are you thinking about it?"
Zhang Fei asked with a smile.
As the situation changes, it becomes very important whether the charity foundation and the Ma family decide to open a warehouse in Hezhong Prefecture.
Because they will bear part of the responsibility of the Qingmiao Law.
But the cautious Fan Zheng has not given an accurate answer.
Fan Zheng smiled slightly: "The current situation in Hezhong Prefecture is indeed thriving, and it has become more favorable to us merchants, but... How long can this last?"
Zhang Fei said: "Regarding this point, you won't believe my assurances. There are definitely risks, but we also have to look at the benefits.
If you agree, Ma Laosi's plan will surely succeed. You will monopolize the soldiers' pay transactions. This regular and large-scale business will not only reduce your transportation costs, but also allow your business to reach every corner of Shaanxi.
In addition, Shaanxi Road had very close contacts with Bianjing.”
Fan Zhengdao: "But we have never thought about cooperating with the government."
Zhang Fei said: "If you don't cooperate with the government, you won't be able to get these deals, but if you are willing to cooperate, our public security, procuratorial and judicial organs will ensure that your rights will not be arbitrarily encroached upon by the government.
Moreover, in addition to the business of flying money, lending, storage, etc., there is another business that you may not have thought of, but it is possible that it will be handed over to you in the future. "
Fan Zheng asked: "What business?"
"Jiaozi."
Zhang Fei said: "The government's credit in Jiaozi is getting worse and worse, but as commerce develops, currency will become more expensive and scarce. Salt notes are fixed, so Jiaozi may be needed. If the public security, procuratorate and courts are there, the government may relax the issuance of Jiaozi to private shops."
Fan Zheng frowned, "But we are cooperating with the government. If we issue Jiaozi, does the government have the final say, or do we? If the government has the final say, then the government is just using us to make money. We would rather not issue it."
Zhang Fei said: "If you don't want to cooperate with the government in terms of Jiaozi, you can split it up and sell it separately. I don't recommend you to cooperate with the government either."
Fan Zhengdao: "Will the government be willing?"
Zhang Fei said: "If Hezhong Prefecture needs to issue Jiaozi, it only means that the business in Hezhong Prefecture is thriving. While the government is getting benefits, why wouldn't they want you to issue Jiaozi to promote business to a higher level?"
Fan Zheng frowned and pondered. This Jiaozi was quite tempting to him, not because of its monetary attribute, but because Jiaozi was more convenient for their business dealings. If his large-scale flying money and lending transactions relied entirely on iron coins and copper coins, the transactions would be very troublesome, and it would take a whole day just to count them. If Jiaozi could be issued to serve as a basis, it would be much more convenient.
After a while, Fan Zheng said, "To be honest with you, Third Brother, Fourth Uncle has already sent someone to deliver a message. Fourth Uncle believes that even if we do not cooperate with the government, we will still be supervised by the government. He does not have much opinion on this."
Ma Tianhao has always cooperated with Xiangguo Temple, and Xiangguo Temple also has close cooperation with the court, so Ma Tianhao does not reject cooperation with the court. Instead, he believes that if he wants to make a lot of money, he must cooperate with the court.
Zhang Fei smiled and nodded: "Ma Laosi is still more thorough in his thinking."
Fan Zheng smiled awkwardly and said, "Fourth Uncle is a senior, so he is naturally more far-sighted than me. But Fourth Uncle also said that this first needs to be guaranteed by the public security, procuratorate and courts."
Merchants in the capital have already realized the benefits of the public security, procuratorial and judicial systems to businessmen.
Zhang Fei immediately said: "I will now give you a guarantee on behalf of the public security, procuratorate and court."
Fan Zheng was stunned, as if he had not expected Zhang Fei to agree so decisively. He chuckled and said, "Third brother seems to be eager for us to open a store here."
Zhang Fei said truthfully: "If the finances of Hezhong Prefecture cannot be improved, and the financial burden is increased because of the public security, procuratorate and courts, who among the ministers will support the public security, procuratorate and courts, and who will have reason to support the public security, procuratorate and courts? So if you give up, we will find other businessmen to cooperate with."
Fan Zheng nodded slightly, thinking that if the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs failed, it would be very disadvantageous to us businessmen. He thought for a while and nodded in agreement, "Okay, we can agree to open a store here, but the negotiation with the government...!"
Zhang Fei took out a piece of paper and placed it on the table. "Negotiate according to what is written here."
Fan Zheng was stunned for a moment, "It seems that Third Brother has guessed our decision."
Zhang Fei chuckled and said, "This is a golden opportunity for businessmen. There is no reason for you to refuse it."
Fan Zheng smiled, picked up the document and studied it carefully.
After Fan Zheng left, Da Gou came over with a pot of tea. While helping Zhang Fei pour the tea, he said, "There's news from Jingzhao Prefecture that many people are trying to stop the public security, procuratorate and courts from going to Jingzhao Prefecture."
"It's expected, who would like us."
Zhang Fei picked up the tea in his cup, took a sip, and asked, "How is the disarmament in Jingzhao Prefecture going?"
Da Gou said: "With the support of the Zhe, Zhong and Yao families, and with Envoy Wang and General Guo in charge, things are going relatively smoothly."
Zhang Fei asked: "No problem at all?"
Big Dog was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Of course there are problems, but the main one is the compensation, many soldiers are dissatisfied."
Zhang Fei said: "You ask our people in the camp to tell other soldiers that if they are treated unfairly, they can come to the imperial court in Hezhong Prefecture to file a lawsuit, and spread the news that the public security, procuratorate and court will go to Jingzhao Prefecture next year."
Da Gou was surprised and asked, "Are the police, procuratorate and court going to Jingzhao Prefecture next year?"
If he really wants to go, he has to prepare.
Zhang Fei shook his head and said, "It's just talk. At present, Hezhong Prefecture is still a mess. How can it afford to go to Jingzhao Prefecture? But I want to use this incident to tie up the soldiers of the entire Western Army. As long as the military and political affairs are stabilized, and the finances of the entire Shaanxi Road are concentrated in Hezhong Prefecture, it will be difficult for them to pose a big obstacle to us. Let the soldiers and civilians in various places become restless and look forward to the arrival of our public security, procuratorial and judicial organs. When the time is ripe, everything will be twice as effective with half the effort."
"I know what to do."
Big Dog nodded and said, "By the way, I received news earlier that the tax commissioner is on his way to Hezhong Prefecture. There should be no problem for the tax commissioner to show up in Hezhong Prefecture next year."
Zhang Fei said, "Tell them to hurry up. We will have to rely on the Taxation Department for many things next year, and I also have to tell them something."
"I see."
... ...
Pinglu County.
That is where Sanmenxia is located.
This is the transportation hub of Hezhong Prefecture, especially in terms of water transportation. It is an excellent place to collect taxes.
As the procuratorate and government are still negotiating, the tax collectors here are also on strike.
They don't dare to accept it now. If they are sued, they might end up in the police station.
There was a teahouse beside this commercial road, with only three or five men sitting inside.
"Stop it! What do we do now?"
A young man said to the bearded man sitting in the middle: "The government only said that they would give money to the officials, but they didn't say they would give money to us. Those officials will definitely not care about us. What should we do?"
There are several types of clerks. Those who work in the government have a regular position, while those like them who sit on the roadside to collect taxes are called "lantou". They do not have a regular position and do not even have any benefits. They just get commissions.
According to the current negotiations between the government and the procuratorate, the government will definitely not give them money.
"You ask me, who should I ask?"
Upon hearing this, the bearded man drank a cup of hot wine and said with his mouth open, "It's all the fault of those son-of-a-bitch police, procuratorate and courts. Before they came, Hezhong Prefecture was peaceful. After they came, everyone lives in fear every day. They are afraid of being arrested if they shout a few words."
"That's not necessarily true. If they want to pay the officials, they have to find someone to collect taxes. Maybe they have to rely on us."
"Can you do the math? The money we get is all overcharged. If it's not much, how can the government still give us that little bit of tax money?"
"That's true. Then we will have nothing to do."
Suddenly, a man sat down.
The leader was startled and turned his head to look. He saw that the man was very unfamiliar. "Who are you?"
The man glanced at them and said seriously, "You have lost your livelihood now, so you will follow me to make a living from now on."
Several people were puzzled by what they heard.
The leader asked, "What do you do?"
boom!
The man slammed a token on the table.
They all recognized this token, which came from the government. Although none of them had ever been to school, coincidentally, they all recognized the words on the token - tax.
Then he heard the man say, "Tax Commissioner."
... ... .
Luoyang!
The government prison.
With a clang, the iron chain loosened and the cell door slowly opened. A young man excitedly entered the cell, his eyes searching each dishevelled prisoner.
Suddenly, he stopped in front of a cell door and saw a thin man sitting in the corner. Unlike other prisoners, this man had his hands tightly tied with hemp ropes.
"elder brother!"
The young man shouted excitedly twice.
The man shook his head, pushed the hair out of his eyes, and blinked fiercely.
"Brother, it's me, Xiao Lin."
"Xiao Lin?"
The man asked in panic, "Why did you come in too?"
"No, no, brother, I'm here to save you."
The young man said, and immediately called to the warden beside him, "Big brother, he is the person I am looking for, hurry up, release him."
"Are you sure it's him?"
"It's him, there's no mistake about it."
The warden immediately opened the cell door and said to the man, "You can go out now."
The prisoner said depressedly: "Brother, my hands are still tied."
The young man immediately rushed into the cell and untied the hemp rope swiftly, "Brother, you are locked up in there, why are you still tied up?"
The prisoner said, "Don't blame the officer. It's all my fault. I always unlocked the door and slipped out by myself."
An hour later.
In a hotel on the southern outskirts of Luoyang.
The man who had just been released buried his head at the dining table, eating voraciously without even bothering to speak.
After a while, the man looked at the empty plates on the table with satisfaction and let out a long sigh, "It's so comfortable, so comfortable!"
He then asked the young man next to him, "Xiao Lin, what's going on? How did you get them to let me out? Did you spend money?"
The young man said, "Who dares to rescue someone from this prison? Even if you can redeem someone with money, how much money would it cost to redeem you, brother? Don't you know how many crimes you have committed?"
"Then... then what is going on?" the man asked in confusion.
The young man named Xiao Lin suddenly laughed and said, "Brother, you don't know that a month ago, we went to rob a government office, but we were caught accidentally. Fortunately, we got help from a nobleman. This nobleman is really powerful. No matter who the prisoner is, the government will release him with just one word from him."
"Then why did he save you?"
"It's because of our method."
As he spoke, Xiao Lin made a stealing gesture.
"What did he ask us to steal?"
"I don't know what I stole specifically. He just asked me to steal a land deed from a rich family, and then he asked me to return it."
"Land deed? Give it back?"
"Um."
"So... what are we brothers going to do now?"
"He just told us to go to Hezhong Prefecture first, and then he will assign us tasks."
As he spoke, the young man took out another bundle, and when he opened it, he saw two household registration books and some silver. He then took out another household registration book and handed it to the man, "Brother, this is yours. From now on, you will be called Fuqian, and I will be called Fulin. You are from Luoyang."
"Is this household registration real or fake? Why does it look like the real thing?"
"It's not like the real thing, it's the real thing."
"real?"
The man frowned, "Do you think this person could be...?"
"Brother, since they didn't tell us, let's not guess blindly. Now that we have this noble man to help us, we don't have to be afraid anymore, and we can also make a lot of money."