Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

Zhao Yuan sighed, "No wonder the Ministry of Revenue hasn't been able to get the statistics right after half a month."

“That’s not all,”

Qian Chen smiled wryly.

"After overseas goods are subject to tariffs,"

"The government also takes a cut."

Zhao Yuan asked, "Weren't some goods subject to a monopoly?"

"Did the government buy them directly?"

"Why do we still have to buy things after paying taxes?"

Qian Chen explained, "Although the monopoly was handled by the Maritime Trade Office,"

"But it must be transported to the capital for sale."

"The purchase was paid by the capital's trade bureau,"

"The Maritime Trade Office can sell them locally,"

"The profits were divided among the emperor, the State Monopoly Bureau, and the Maritime Trade Office."

"Moreover, lotteries are often a risk-free business."

"What kind of method is this without a basis?" Zhao Yuan asked.

Qian Chen said, "For example, in the seventh year of the Zhenghe reign, the foolish Emperor Huizong of Tang (Zhao Ji) embarked on a massive construction project and ran out of money."

"Nearly two thousand official certificates were issued to the Bureau of Trade."

"The customs office will then issue these certificates again,"

"Sold to Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Fujian,"

"The proceeds will be handed over to the Maritime Trade Office as capital,"

"They would buy goods by sea and transport them to the capital to sell for profit."

Zhao Yuan was speechless.

"From the capital to the provinces, every government office is doing business everywhere."

"Is this still considered the imperial court?"

"Is it still considered a government agency?"

Qian Chen said, "Actually, when taxes are levied, they are also collected in kind."

"They were then resold to local merchants."

"After the government's monopoly, taxation, and purchase,"

"Those remaining goods,"

"Only maritime merchants can trade directly with land merchants."

"Prohibition of forced purchases, taxation of sales, and sale by purchase,"

"All three involve the buying and selling of goods,"

"It's impossible to calculate exactly how much tax the Maritime Trade Office collected,"

"It's unclear how much money the officials embezzled."

"If they are to be transported to the capital for sale, the local militia will be responsible for transporting them along the way,"

"And the local militia don't have to pay,"

"Even the post stations along the way had to pay out of their own pockets."

"Occasionally, laborers had to be conscripted to help with the transport,"

"None of these have a cost that can be calculated,"

"It's a complete mess."

Zhao Yuan instructed, "Go back and discuss this with those maritime officials who are going to the capital."

"Develop a new set of rules for taxing maritime trade."

"From now on, in addition to silver, copper, and other similar items,"

"The remaining goods are no longer subject to restrictions,"

"No further purchases are allowed."

"To facilitate tax revenue statistics,"

"Try to prevent officials from embezzling and profiting from this."

"Those who perform meritorious service will be richly rewarded."

"If any suggestions from maritime officials are adopted,"

"They can be promoted three ranks above their original official rank."

"Yes!"

Qian Chen accepted the order.

After Qian Chen left, Zhao Yuan sighed.

"This is the Song Dynasty, which values ​​maritime trade so much!"

"Customs affairs are absolutely a mess,"

"It's unimaginable how much money officials have embezzled!"

In fact, the Song Dynasty court also wanted to prevent corruption.

Therefore, it was stipulated that prohibited goods must be transported to the capital.

Furthermore, the price was strictly regulated.

However, the execution was a complete mess!

When the imperial court is keeping a close eye on things,

Officials are afraid of making mistakes.

Set the price very high.

This resulted in the products not selling.

There is a large backlog of stockpiles in warehouses in the Gyeonggi region.

When the imperial court wasn't keeping a close eye on things,

The officials set the price very low again.

They colluded with merchants to buy low and sell high for profit.

Or both at the same time.

First, deliberately set a high price.

The warehouse is completely full.

They then reported to the imperial court that the goods were not selling well.

We must sell it at a low price as soon as possible.

Otherwise, the warehouse wouldn't be able to hold it all.

Then they conspired with merchants to sell the goods at rock-bottom prices.

Some powerful figures in the capital even secretly joined forces.

Control the shipping time of these goods.

This forced the government to sell off its granaries at rock-bottom prices once they were full.

They turn goods shipped from overseas into futures contracts.

Why introduce a lottery system again?

It's actually just another system created by Wang Anshi.

The government intervenes in the trading market through the "Queyiwu" (榷易务) system.

At that time, powerful figures and wealthy merchants were involved in futures trading.

They suffered heavy losses because of Wang Anshi.

The central government's finances quickly became more abundant.

But it led to even more serious consequences.

The trade bureau quickly grew into a behemoth.

They also disrupted the national commercial order through local Ever-Normal Granaries.

This forced countless small and medium-sized merchants to lose their homes and lives.

The root of all problems

It's about normal business transactions.

The government then took over the unified purchase and sale of these goods.

In order to resolve the problem, Wang Anshi...

The imperial court was then tasked with micro-level regulation.

The final result will inevitably be that pressing down one gourd will cause another to float up.

"How about setting up an exchange at a port at the level of a maritime trade office?"

Zhao Yuan suddenly said something.

Wen Huanzhang was taken aback: "The stock exchange?"

Zhao Yuan explained, "It's impractical to collect currency taxes from maritime merchants who have come from afar."

"They couldn't possibly be carrying a large amount of money,"

"Moreover, it is difficult to set prices and collect taxes when commodity prices fluctuate."

Therefore, customs can only collect taxes on goods in kind.

"But customs collects taxes in kind,"

"It must be sold to make money,"

"There are too many loopholes that officials can exploit when they are allowed to sell goods."

Wen Huanzhang asked, "Could we let the merchants sell their goods first?"

"Is another monetary tax levied?"

Chapter 1829 Futures Trading

"What do you think?" Zhao Yuan asked in return.

Wen Huanzhang thought for a moment and then shook his head.

"That won't work either, the maritime merchants and the mainland merchants will collude to falsify accounts and evade taxes!"

Zhao Yuan said, "Therefore, we can take over the warehouses of the Maritime Trade Office."

"Turn it into a local exchange."

"Based on the quality of the goods, representatives from the Maritime Trade Office and the trading companies,"

"Together, we categorize the products as superior, average, or inferior."

"It's not limited to these three categories,"

"It depends on market conditions,"

"Anyway, merchants have their own methods for inspecting goods."

"After assigning grades to the products,"