latelenovela Chapter 323 Customs
Chapter 323 Customs
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Aside from establishing customs posts along the Grand Canal, the Ming Dynasty had no other means of collecting large-scale commercial taxes, let alone taxing maritime merchants, as the dynasty imposed a maritime ban. Therefore, the establishment of customs posts on the two largest islands of Qiongzhou, bypassing the imperial court's control, was a breakthrough in the system and an unprecedented innovation.
Although the targets of the taxation in Qiongzhou were similar to Zheng Zhilong's collection of protection money, their levels of sophistication were vastly different. Selling command flags and collecting protection money remained at the level of underworld practices, while classifying taxes according to the value and profit of goods was already a common practice in modern states. In reality, the Qiongzhou camp was exercising state power by taking advantage of the power vacuum left by the imperial court at sea. Moreover, once the maritime commercial tax system matured, it could be extended to all industries as the Qiongzhou camp expanded inland. In Liu Ye's view, the ratio of commercial tax to agricultural tax in the Ming Dynasty was severely imbalanced, and the national fiscal revenue should not rely on peasants with nowhere to stand. From now on, he would use his military power to gradually cultivate the habit of tax payment among the people.
Getting accustomed to freedom to collect taxes at designated ports seemed like an incredibly difficult task, but in reality, it wasn't as hard as it appeared. Before his downfall, Zheng Zhilong had already laid the groundwork for the Qiongzhou Camp: three thousand taels of silver for a flag; if you traded at sea and didn't plant a flag, you were dead. Terrified by Zheng Zhilong's power, the merchants obediently accepted this rule. Now that the maritime hegemon had changed, although the rules were a bit stricter than under the Zheng family, the merchants had no choice. It was still about paying for peace, only the tax was categorized by goods, meaning they had to pay more. However, in the eyes of wealthy merchants, three thousand taels, five thousand taels, or six thousand taels made no real difference.
The Guangdong and Guangxi region was the stronghold of the Qiongzhou Garrison, whose fearsome reputation deterred any from daring to provoke them. With the governor's covert support, little effort was needed; merchant ships from Guangdong and Guangxi obediently brought their goods to Bofu for inspection and tax payment. The usually quiet port of Bofu suddenly became bustling with activity. Merchants from Southeast Asia, those heading to Southeast Asia, and those preparing to travel to Japan—all gathered together. Large and small merchant ships lined up all the way to the open sea, waiting for the newly established "Bofu Customs" to inventory the goods, collect taxes, and then give them a flag and a booklet recording the types of goods carried on that voyage, the amount of tax paid, the name of the customs office, the date of tax payment, and the signature and seal of the tax collector. When the ship returned from Southeast Asia or Japan, new goods would be re-inspected and valued, and the corresponding information would be filled out again, making the booklet reusable.
The technology research institute under Liang Xiaoming's leadership made its debut this time. Shen Xiaoyang, a printing expert he poached from Guangzhou, designed anti-counterfeiting technology for the tax booklets. He used red, blue, black and other colors to overlay printed patterns on the inner pages of the booklets, along with an exceptionally precise engraving seal, making it impossible for ordinary people to imitate, thus preventing anyone from counterfeiting the booklets to evade taxes.
In addition to using multi-color overprinting technology for anti-counterfeiting, Liu Ye also plans to plug potential loopholes in the system by rotating tax officials between the Tainan and Bofu tax offices regularly. This way, even if someone manages to forge a tax booklet, it will be useless if the tax payment location and the taxpayer's signature don't match.
A few days before the customs office opened, Zhang Ming personally led a team to board the ships to count and register the goods. He paid special attention to inspecting merchant ships carrying porcelain and tea bound for Southeast Asia, as the majority of the Bofu Customs' revenue came from these goods.
The voices of the inspectors on each ship rose and fell: "Three hundred pieces of Jingdezhen blue and white porcelain vases!"
"Two hundred dan of Wuyi tea from Fujian!"
"One hundred dan (a unit of weight) of dried tea leaves from Guangzhou!"
……
After the inspector counted and checked the goods and reported the quantity, the statistician recorded the type, quantity, and weight of the goods and handed them over to the tax collectors on shore. They quickly calculated the tax amount using an abacus according to the pre-prepared goods classification tax table. Then, the ship owner paid the tax and received a tax payment certificate. First-time ship owners also received a "Qiong" flag to be planted on the ship, and the tax payment process was considered complete. Ship owners called this process "passing through customs."
After the Bofu Customs opened, it earned 200,000 taels of silver in its first month, almost equivalent to a year's sales for the cotton cloth business. From the second month onwards, the density of merchant ships passing through the customs decreased, and revenue declined, but it still maintained an average monthly income of 120,000 taels of silver. Considering that some maritime merchants were still in a wait-and-see phase, and that European merchant ships from Batavia and other places had not yet received the best winds to return to Europe, this figure still had room to rise.
The Tainan Customs House also began operations simultaneously, but its tax revenue was not as optimistic as that of Bofu. The first month's tax revenue was only 100,000 taels, and the second month it dropped even further to 80,000 taels. According to Zheng Hongkui's estimate, at least 40-50% of the merchants, hoping to get away with it, did not come to Tainan but instead went directly to Japan, especially those from the Jiangnan region. These merchants controlled most of the raw silk and silk exports from Jiangnan, making them the main source of revenue for the Tainan Customs House. Comparing the trade profits between Japan and Southeast Asia, the Tainan Customs House's revenue should have been twice that of the Bofu Customs House to be considered normal.
Lin Chuan-tsung, as the commander of the Tainan Fleet, has begun patrols in the Fujian Strait and the East China Sea. However, due to the limited number of patrol ships and the fact that the newly built shipyard in Tainan has not yet been put into use, the manpower is stretched thin, and the patrol effect is not very obvious.
At this time, Li Fu returned from Nagasaki, bringing several pieces of news, some good and some bad.
South Garden.
Li Fu reported to Liu Ye: "First, I must report to the General that the Nagasaki Trading Post has been established. The Hizen Domain has given us the most prosperous location, which is also close to the port. After the news of the General's victory over Zheng Zhilong came, the people of the Hizen Domain have been serving us with utmost care. The trading post building has been completed, and staff have been recruited. However, the person in charge has not yet been decided. I am here today to select a clever person to go there."
Liu Ye nodded in satisfaction: "You've worked hard. You can decide who will be in charge. After the trading post is operational, we will treat the raw silk exported from Jiangnan to Japan as a long-term business. Even if we can't monopolize the raw silk market in Suzhou and Hangzhou, we should try our best to suppress the profit margins of local maritime merchants, so that they don't make money and then evade our taxes. If we can't collect their taxes, we'll make them back ourselves!"
Having spent several months in Japan, Li Fu was unfamiliar with customs and tax matters. Upon hearing this, he asked in surprise, "What about tax evasion?"
Liu Ye simply explained the serious tax revenue loss situation at the Tainan Customs.
After listening, Li Fu slapped his forehead: "This is easy! Most of the raw silk in Jiangnan is sold to Japan, and only finished silk products are transported to Southeast Asia. The Japanese shogunate has also issued a national isolation edict, so Ming Dynasty merchant ships can only trade in Nagasaki. We just need to block the port of Nagasaki and check each of our dynasty's merchant ships one by one. We'll know exactly who pays taxes and who evades taxes, right?"