Volume 4 is in the ascendant Chapter 465 Dispute
Yecheng.
The focus of the argument between Xun Yu and Chen Qun gradually became practical.
What Xun Yu had in mind was that the Wei court and the Chu State would share Tuyin Port, that is, on the Wei side, only the court's merchant ships could dock at Tuyin Port, and the major aristocratic families... could rent or buy the qualifications to trade at Tuyin Port like the major salt merchants of the Chu State.
Tuyin City was where the Wei imperial court and the wealthy families in the north worked together to reap the small families...
This was Wei's unspoken national policy, and Xun Yu also supported it, but overall, Xun Yu was more inclined to allow the court to gain more profits.
Because there is enough "profit", there is enough energy to appease the small households that have been harvested...
For this reason, Xun Yu suggested that special commercial taxes be set for Tuyin City!
On the issue of commercial taxes, Wei was never able to push it forward as forcefully as Chu, or it could be said that Cao Cao was unwilling to pay the price for pushing it forward forcefully.
The final result of the mutual compromise between the two parties was that different regions and different categories began to collect commercial taxes at different tax rates.
This time, Chen Qun and Xun Yu had a dispute over whether Tuyin City should be subject to commercial taxes, how high the commercial taxes should be, the certification standards for caravans authorized to enter Tuyin Port, and whether private ships had the right to dock.
Chen Qun naturally hopes to further loosen the shackles on the aristocratic families. Their ultimate goal is to share the world with the royal family. As for the interests of Tuyin Port, he also hopes to be able to get involved and squeeze out those small families together with the royal family, rather than being squeezed out by the royal family...
Of course, the northern gentry still had awe for Cao Cao.
Even if they want to fight for their own interests, they will not use intimidation or refuse to cooperate, but will try their best to prove to Cao Cao that their involvement will bring greater benefits!
In the end, the argument between the two was interrupted by Yang Xiu, who never paid attention to the atmosphere.
Yang Xiu was supposedly from a prominent aristocratic family, but... the Hongnong Yang family had openly severed ties with him. The "Lady Xiahou" incident made Cao Cao and Xiahou Yuan feel guilty about him, and eventually Cao Cao arranged a marriage for his daughter, who had not yet reached the age of marriage, with him.
"Lord Xun, Censor Chen, please stop arguing. It will not produce any result. You might as well go back home and argue." Yang Xiu interrupted in a straightforward but joking manner.
Upon hearing this, Xun Yu and Chen Qun looked at Yang Xiu angrily.
Given their positions, was it Yang Xiu's turn to mediate? Especially since the two men represented the sensitive topic of the division of interests between the imperial court and the gentry.
However... Yang Xiu now has no taboos. After all, the Yang family is not in Wei State, and he is Cao Cao's future son-in-law.
"In my opinion, why don't you two take a step back? The cost of purchasing Chu's sea vessels is not a small amount to raise. Why not let the noble families who are loyal to Wei to subscribe to them?" Yang Xiu said with a smile.
"After buying the ships from Chu State ..." Chen Qun guessed what Yang Xiu meant.
"Of course, we will first hand it over to the court for safekeeping and maintenance! But after the purchase, you can order ships of the same size or a fleet from the Craftsmen Camp... Then Lord Xun can also take a step back and allow these ships to enter from Tuyin Port." Yang Xiu said very cleverly.
In short... the Wei court could completely "get it for free", and all the Chu ships that needed to be purchased in bulk were subscribed by the major aristocratic families.
After the purchase, it was forced to donate it to the State of Wei, and what was purchased was equivalent to the "port entry qualification" of the same load capacity!
Even in order to redeem this "port entry qualification" later, it is necessary to manufacture special ships. The shipbuilding industry controlled by the northern gentry is relatively weak. In the Wei State, the court's skilled craftsmen built shipbuilding workshops and had a dominant position in the shipbuilding industry. In other words... the court would make extra money from shipbuilding.
Of course, the price of ships in Chu is not simply calculated by "displacement". If we only look at the "displacement", the cost-effectiveness of all kinds of seagoing ships varies greatly...
But what does that matter? This can also be a subject of competition among the various noble families. The powerful noble families, or the noble families that Wei State supports more, will naturally have the opportunity to subscribe to those ships with high cost performance!
Yang Xiu thought his method was very clever.
It not only conforms to the current development direction of Wei State, but also secures as many benefits as possible.
If the Wei court relied on itself to raise the 200 million yuan, it would probably cost a lot of money. However, if it was directly transferred to the great noble families, the court could breathe a sigh of relief...
As for where the nobles will come from?
On the one hand, these great aristocratic families usually have the habit of hoarding copper coins, gold and silver. Even if the Han Wuzhu coins are useless, the price of copper in the Chu State is still relatively strong, and gold and silver can be directly benchmarked against the Chu currency. On the other hand... There is a saying that "the wool comes from the sheep" and another saying that "big fish eat small fish".
Driven by the hidden national policy of Wei, although the northern gentry were still influenced by the inherent survival nature of the "aristocratic families" and did not dare to easily cause themselves to be hated by heaven and man, they were indeed much more eager for quick success and instant benefits than before!
But it has nothing to do with the court!
Anyway, if someone is really hated by God and people, the imperial court will be happy to confiscate his property and make a fortune.
As for the commercial tax in Tuyin City, after Cao Cao spoke up, everyone quickly reached a consensus - not to set up a separate commercial tax, but to implement the highest existing commercial tax standard in accordance with the standards of the upper county.
Also different from the great development of commodity economy in later generations, in special foreign trade zones in later generations, there are usually tax subsidies or even tax exemptions to encourage consumption.
However, at that time when material resources were not abundant, the more developed and more frequently traded counties were, the higher the commercial taxes were, which were more like "rent."
This also shows that the great aristocratic families of the Wei State still have the nature of "planning for the rest of the world" in their bones - the cost of subscribing to the ships of the Chu State will probably take a long time to earn back.
But since the authority is permanently passed down from generation to generation, there will always be a time to make back the money with interest ...
As for the imperial court, or Cao Cao, it can be said that he was not just "scheming for a short time"!
The reason why Cao Cao accepted Yang Xiu's method was that he wanted to "plan for the time being" first. As long as it took "the time" for the Great Wei to unify the world, he could slowly clear up the world in this "lifetime".
This is also the fundamental reason why Cao Cao untied the "shackles" of the gentry and even allowed them to grow fangs to a certain extent.
Cao Cao felt that he would not fail.
It’s just… the frequent headaches make Cao Cao a little worried.
I wouldn't have a car accident, but what if it was my son?
Thinking of Cao Pi, who has been in Jinling for several years, I don’t know how he has grown up now...
I think of Cao Zhi, who was a playboy and always stayed close to Yang Xiu...
Cao Cao was extremely worried.
He couldn't tell whether he was worried about his children and grandchildren or about the world!
However, Cao Cao had no reason to regret it. This was the only way he could think of to fight against the State of Chu.
As long as Cao Cao is given enough time, he is confident that after unifying the world, he can pull out the fangs of the gentry and put back the shackles, and then hand over to his children and grandchildren a world that only requires civil governance to sit firmly on the throne!
