I. Taxation
Second, business.
Third, travel.
Fourth, the labor force.
I. Taxation
In the Ming Dynasty, except farm tools and teaching materials, other items were taxed at the price of 1/30. In the Ming Dynasty, except for Beijing, Liudu and important cities, officials sent by the Ming court were responsible for business taxes, while officials from other provinces were responsible for other tax collectors' stations. The usual practice is to appoint local officials as tax collectors, a small part of which is turned over to the central government, and most of which is reserved for local government expenses or relief funds.
1429, the Caohe River from Nanjing to Beijing was divided into five sections (Nanjing-Huai 'an-Xuzhou-Jining-Linqing-Tongzhou), and each section had to pay taxes.
According to the capacity of the toll (similar to the toll), Caohe area (Yangzhou, Huai 'an, Linqing, Hexi affairs) has four collection stations, and others are located in Jiujiang, Hangzhou and Hushuguan.
Division is a special commercial tax levied on shipbuilding materials (wood, bamboo, toilet, oil, iron, coal and charcoal), which is paid in kind (later convertible into coins), nails and copper wires are the responsibility of the Ministry of Industry, and the proceeds are distributed to several docks managed by the government to build ships for the tanker fleet. There are four collection stations in Beijing, one in Nanjing, one each in Huai 'an and Zhengding, Lanzhou, Guangning, Jingzhou, Taiping, Wuhu and Hangzhou.
Door-to-door tax, once every three months, is the license tax paid by the warehouse or booth in the town.
Business tax (consumption tax), door-to-door tax (merchants), ship money (the responsibility of the Ministry of Industry) and division (the responsibility of the Ministry of Industry) seem neat and concise on the surface, but the actual situation is completely different.
The tax laws and regulations in the Ming Dynasty were very thorough, but the operation of the tax system never got rid of the influence and manipulation of bureaucrats. The Ming court couldn't collect taxes completely according to the tax rate, and the regulations on the tax amount at each port were even more incredible. Officials can't raise taxes and seek extra income completely according to the tax rate. There are many illegal acts inside and outside the tax system. The fundamental factor lies in the low-level management of toll stations and the salaries of affiliated personnel paid on the basis of office work income. Later, the Ming court issued a decree forbidding Cao ships to collect ship money, forbidding nobles and royal grange managers to set up tax collection points privately, and declaring it illegal to tax the grain and fuel consumed by crew members. All this is about the confusion of the tax collection system in the Ming Dynasty. In addition, there are other illegal situations, such as secretly asking for money, fines and forced donations, bribery and so on. Under the pretext of building official offices, launching ceremony of official ships, helping workers and helping water tanks. The acquiescence of the Ming court to these illegal acts destroyed the existing tax rules and systems.
Government officials impose severe fines on businessmen, but the flexible tax policies adopted by some local tax administrations have led to the other extreme, that is, taxes are too loose. Tax collectors don't care how the tax revenue of the imperial court matches. On the other hand, it also shows that it is easy to complete the taxation of southern ports at a medium level. Some irregularities in taxation hindered the investigation of the facts. However, the author has outlined the general situation of the operation of the tax system, and the income from commercial tax is still very small, which is not as good as land tax and salt tax. The main part of these income comes from Caohe area.
The research on the digital table of goods tax in Daming Hui Dian shows that the tax proportion does not completely follow the model of 30 tax, and the tax on necessities is lighter than that on luxury goods, which means that the national tax will be more, and the business tax paid by businessmen is much higher than the official tax rate, but few people complain that illegal collection and repeated collection have attracted more criticism. 1599 The tax amount of Ming government recorded in Daming Hui Dian includes ship notes, goods tax, special commodity tax on shipbuilding raw materials and division. Business tax comes from 8 ports, 4 ports of Caohe River and 2 ports of Caohe branch canal, and Chongwenmen's income also comes from Caohe Jiujiang (outside the canal system).
Before 1599, the tax revenue mainly came from five ports (Yangzhou, Huai 'an, Linqing, Hexi Affairs and Chongwenmen in Beijing). Later, the Ming government adjusted the tax revenue and allocated it to Hangzhou, Hushuguan, Jiujiang and the tax center. The reasons are as follows: firstly, the Ming government only began to rely on the water transport trunk line to balance the tax burden borne by the Caohe River and the southern geographical system; Secondly, the commercial development of Caohe River from Guazhou, a prosperous economy in the south, is saturated, that is, the water transport is stagnant, while the economy in the south is growing. This trend can be seen from the record analysis of five ports along the Caohe River.
Mr. Zuo's research on the commercial tax in Ming Dynasty is in the same strain as the author's research on the tax situation in Caohe area. In the early stage, military and political affairs were frequent, taxes were heavy, and they were greatly reduced in the middle stage. In the later period, the government ran a huge deficit and increased taxes. Illegal taxation is still widespread.
Second, business.
Business information in Ming Dynasty was very scarce. The author can only study from the official memoranda and local chronicles of some counties in Caohe area, but there are still few evaluation clues about the capitalization, profit rate and trade mode of businessmen. Although officials in the Ming Dynasty provided a comprehensive discussion topic on some special occasions, according to the current data, it is still impossible to outline the general situation. In view of this situation, they put forward hope for the current chronicle work in China.
In this chapter, the author only puts forward a rough outline of business.
The supply flow of the Ming government was mainly oriented to the north. Products from the south and goods imported from overseas are usually transported to the north through Caohe waterway. A small amount of products from the north, such as cotton and wool yarn, are provided to the Jiangnan market. At the same time, internal trade is equally important. Short-distance freight transportation mostly belongs to agricultural products, which has little influence on the development of national economy, but it broadens the exchange of local materials and increases agricultural income. Towns along the Caohe River have benefited a lot from commercial development, such as the prosperity of Huai 'an City. 1600 Linqing, the largest city in China, is more or less related to Caohe area.
The author speculates that most of cotton cloth is produced in Songjiang, and its raw cotton mainly comes from Dongchangfu and Yanzhou, Shandong Province, and it needs to be transported to the south by Caohe waterway. Linqing and Jining are loading and unloading ports, and the textile industry in North Zhili (Hejianfu) is already very developed. Its advantage lies in the convenience of raw material producing area and market, and the decline of purchasing power in northern provinces is also the reason for the decline of trade.
The trade of Caohe River is dominated by silk products, but the discussion on the volume of trade and transportation is very vague. Silk fabrics were transported to Linqing first, and then to the northern ministries via Caohe River. According to the data collected by Zuo Bo, the author analyzes that the private trade of silk products is carried out by small enterprises, and the silk industry is loosely organized, and the dominant position is family production, which also determines the trading mode, which eventually leads to the role of businessmen being reduced to a smaller extent, thus leading to less noticeable commercial activities.
The situation of porcelain trade is also vague, but without exception, porcelain merchants active in Hejian House are transported by Caohe River, mainly from Raozhou House where Jingdezhen is located.
Caohe area (Beijing and Huai 'an area) is the main place to buy timber, and the mode of timber transportation is still Caohe waterway. Despite the difficulties, this model is still determined by facts. We can't help but talk about the fact that Dr. He Shengrui of the Ministry of Industry prevented the imperial court from buying all the needed wood. He opposed the purchase of wood, hoping to treat it as an ordinary commodity, rather than "imperial wood", and did not enjoy the priority of passing through the gently inclined water surface and sluice, and did not enjoy the help of government workers during the voyage. The loss caused during this period shall be borne by the timber merchant, who can only buy it after Chongwenmen, and cannot pay in advance. Similarly, timber merchants can't be exempted from general goods tax, although the official attitude of restraining business is extremely difficult to transport, and the timber trade in Caohe area is also very prosperous.
In Huai 'an, the government is still the biggest buyer of timber, and all the timber used to build replacement ships is purchased from private hands, which provides a broad space for commercial activities of timber. Unlike Beijing, in Huai 'an, businesses try to avoid signing contracts with the government. Silver is paid in advance by the government, and timber is not provided until two or three years later. At this time, timber merchants are trading at a loss. At this time, the business is completely a task that must be completed to maintain the license, which will inevitably hinder the development of private business and commercial development. Some officials near Nanjing have also brought difficulties to our transactions, and government contracts are still unable to get rid of the abuse of power by officials. Other businessmen can imagine. Although it is not clear how the timber merchants solved the difficulties along the way, the experience of Qingjiangpu shows that the timber business is still profitable.
Bohai Bay, the estuary of Huaihe River and the Yangtze River Delta are the main salt producing areas, and most of them can transport salt to the mainland market through Caohe River. Cangzhou, Zhangqiu, Qingjiangpu, Yangzhou and He Yi are ports where wholesalers often call. Salt merchants are mostly in the southeast, that is, most of the salt water is transported by Caohe River, but it is only a short section. As salt merchants, most of them will engage in other commodity trade after making a fortune with salt. Because of the persecution of the Ming government, they could not continue to transport salt, so they had to adopt other lifestyles, such as Huizhou merchants (starting from tea trade) and Shanxi merchants (also developed from salt merchants).
Other kinds of goods, such as leather and tung oil, are transported on the Caohe River on a smaller scale or with a shorter transportation history.
Fruits such as dates, chestnuts and grains produced in Shandong and Henan are all used in the south, or transported to the south by the southern fleet that transports grain to Beijing. Grain (wheat, barley, peas and a little rice) is transported by water from the Yellow River and Huaihe River near the entrance of Caohe River in the Yangtze River and collected near Huai 'an.
The transportation of other commodities appeared in other sections of Caohe River, which only promoted regional supply. For example, Linqing's grain comes from Henan, Jining and Tianjin, which means that all possible methods are used in grain transportation, and the result is naturally satisfactory.
Finally, the author concludes that commercial transportation within the scope of water transport capacity promotes the exchange of goods and plays a greater role at the local level than in the whole country. However, the confusion of financial system, the wrong tax policy of Ming government, the attitude of officials to restrain commerce, the lack of reasonable judicial system protection, the geographical characteristics of Caohe waterway, official agency and illegal operation all hindered the development of commerce. The development of non-governmental trade is also limited by the unique characteristics of commercial transport fleet of Caohe trade, so Caohe can't link the north and the south together, and the economic development can't reach a new level. Others, such as shipping, may have less restrictions on free trade, and the commercial development along the main line of Caohe trade obviously lags behind the development of South China in the later period, such as timber trade. One of the reasons for the decline of this trade is the decline of purchasing power, but Caohe's commerce is not perfect and its foundation is shallow, and it is easy to collapse completely if it goes against the trend.
Third, travel.
Caohe River is the busiest travel route between Beijing and the south, which can be seen from the poems left by travel poets. In addition, there are some records in the biographies of some characters (such as Lu Zhong, Zhang Fuhua, Wang Yangming and others, assistant ministers of the Ministry of War). Even due to special circumstances, the waterway parallel to Caohe River was changed to land.
Caohe River is the waterway for the Ming government to entertain state guests, and it is also the main channel for Beijing to take the exam. Similarly, many vassal envoys went to Beijing through the Caohe River. For example, the missions sent by the shogunate, though notorious, refused to provide them with labor and food when they arrived in Caohe area. In addition, when the Dutch mission came to China, it had to go through the Caohe River to reach the capital. However, the understanding of the geographical characteristics of Caohe River cannot be limited to today's understanding.
Caohe River is not only a waterway connecting coastal areas, but also a road connecting remote areas. Tributes from Tibet and princes (such as King Wanlu) all came to Beijing through Caohe River. Although there are no works of traveling on the Caohe River, records can be found in some people's travel logs and notes. The author's views in some works are undoubtedly the same. Traveling on the Caohe River is painful, time-consuming and full of difficulties. Although the travel background is different, the feeling is the same.
Matteo Ricci's horse boat (fast horse, official boat carrying silk goods) will give priority to crossing the river, only a few days ahead of others. It takes a long time to travel in the Caohe River. It is also recorded in the diary of the Japanese envoy's trip that if the ship diversion is to be carried out smoothly, it must be carried out when the lake rises in the first half of the lunar calendar.
Rely on the diversion of Cao and Shui, and constantly unload luggage or goods in the process, which often leads to the inability of merchant ships to continue sailing. For travelers without official positions, changing boats at the entrance of Caohe River makes them seldom cross the gate and travel in a certain reach.
The Ming government did not prohibit merchant ships from entering the Caohe River. Watergate merchant ships built and managed by Yizhen and Qingjiang Pu Youming governments only need to pay tolls and jump over the sluice, but the huge expenses often inhibit the travel of merchant ships. After discovering that bribing officials can reduce the cost, the river chief passed the Watergate government decision, and the Ming government decided to open the Watergate to civilian ships, only paying a part of the fee to pass (depending on the size of the ship). The sluice gate was often opened, and the water volume could not be maintained. Later, it was revised to open only for three months every summer to let the tanker pass. Other ships need winches to hoist over the rocky gentle slope, which is strictly enforced and is also a policy prohibiting merchant ships from entering the Caohe River.
The author analyzes the description of travel in poetry, which shows that the environment is beautiful, elegant and less troublesome. For Caohe River, because there are many uncertain factors involved, travelers who are afraid of delaying their trip often give up the waterway and take the land. But for travelers who have enough time, traveling on the Caohe River is very pleasant.
Travelers can easily rent a cargo ship without booking in advance. In Gui Youguang's account, this situation is described in detail. He said that the ship would go full speed when sailing, and that he would travel by boat with his friends. Crossing the gate needs to be behind the tanker. According to Tong Liang's diary in Liang Yan, the ships provided by the government may arrange their trips according to the detailed schedule, instead of doing their best like civilian ships. Not all ships have to pass through the Caohe River, and sometimes they change ships. The reason is not clear. For the post station, it is set in the land of Caohe River on average. * * * There are 42 stations, and the journey between stations is only one day. The post station provides coolies and accommodation for officials, so the reasons for the delay of the official ship include a coolie and food shortage. Meanwhile, the post office is also an important communication center. Couriers usually go by land, which is fast and can provide valuable time for officials among disciples.
From Matteo Ricci's description, the author knows that travelers can use bank services, and from the diaries of some European travelers, we also know some customs and habits related to Caohe travel, such as offering sacrifices and asking for supernatural protection. When traveling in Caohe River, you will also meet thieves and robbers. Occasionally, the trip was temporarily interrupted due to banditry, which happened in the late Ming government period. Qi Biaojia 1643 On the way south, you were robbed by bandits, which also shows that travelers have to pay attention to robbers.
Fourth, the labor force.
The administrative system of Caohe River includes branches and affiliated institutions, and the required labor force is recruited from the people along the Caohe River to undertake different tasks.
The labor fee is collected by the magistrate, and the number of people is permanently provided by the relevant county and directly controlled by the magistrate. The county magistrate maintains the Caohe area under his jurisdiction with the help of judges or officials. Many skilled craftsmen and families are directly registered and assigned to various organs in Caohe River according to regulations. Labor is not paid, and the government does not provide meals. This series of measures, the grass-roots government has fully undertaken the daily transportation of labor, so the Ming court can be exempted from these trivial matters.
In some special cases, such as the reconstruction of the Yellow River, it is necessary to recruit more labor. Of course, it is still recruited from the people along the Caohe River, and it is also possible to exempt some land taxes or provide food for workers, but the expenses during the service period will be paid by them.
/kloc-In the late 6th century, people were employed instead of serving, and silver was levied as labor remuneration. In addition, the whole corvee system is still the same as before, and people who are willing to take corvee can still take it instead of being forced to use money.
At the county level, there are three ways to collect corvee in Caohe: one is corvee warehouse, which is composed of people who own land and have the obligation to serve corvee; Second, all male citizens of corvee age in each county; Third, take the family as the collection unit and recruit from all families in each county. Among them, the labor force of Caohe River mainly comes from male citizens of service age in relevant counties (each county not only refers to the counties where Caohe passes, but also includes neighboring counties, where streams provide water for Caohe River and the labor force acts as "spring husband").
In labor, dredgers (organized by shallow shops) (including dredgers) are responsible for the smooth flow of a mile long river channel under the leadership of the "old man" and the maintenance and protection of ditches on both sides of the Caohe River. In some places, maintenance materials (such as wooden stakes, straw bales, lime, bricks, yellow sacks, etc.) need to be provided. ).
In Xuzhou and Peixian of the Yellow River, arrange embankment and ditch maintenance services. Because the Yellow River has water in summer, they must live on the levee from May to September, and they can take their families with them.
Hongfu (Liu Fu) helps official ships to cross dangerous river sections. Unlike trackers, these blessings have no fixed amount and are illegal. Pulling the "horse boat" forward has always been a painful burden for farmers along the Caohe River, and sometimes the responsibility of calling the followers has to become the responsibility of the county and county magistrate.
Most of the workers registered at Qingjiangpu Shipyard were recruited from families in various counties. They serve for three months every two years, and the ordinary workers serving in the post station are all workers from landlords. It is stipulated that people who provide specific corvees need to bring their own tools and instruments, such as horses, ox carts, mule carts, boats, etc. All these burdens are accomplished by a "labor pool" composed of families with better family conditions.