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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 252: Opium Tax Rate

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    In the lobby of the Jiangguan Customs Office, Xiao Yungui's words had already won a round of applause from the Chinese businessmen. The Manchu Qing Dynasty had always emphasized agriculture and restrained commerce. In the early years, when there was only one trading port in Guangzhou, goods from the mainland had to go through many checkpoints and commercial taxes to be transported to Guangzhou.  , discuss the amount of tariffs and various kinds of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes that are shocking. Just like the Xushuguan Pass on the Jiangnan Canal, there are so many ghost gates for exploiting merchants in various places, but often these exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes cannot enter the money bags of the Qing Dynasty, and most of them are  Corrupt officials from all over the country are in the pocket.

    After the Taiping Army took over Shanghai, many business owners who were hiding in the concessions were initially wary. Later, they heard that the Taiping Army not only did not rob wealthy households like the bandits in the past, but also encouraged the reopening of business.  When the bosses of major business houses returned to the city, they found that the Taiping Army did not commit any crimes. They only ransacked the homes of those Manchu officials. Many people secretly clapped their hands and cheered. They also saw the Taiping Army waving money all over the city to buy various goods.  Major businesses have reopened their businesses one after another.

    Although trade has been reopened, the owners of these shops are still worried, fearing that the Taiping Army will fall out one day. You must know that Tianjing has robbed the local shops and filled them with all their money, food and goods.  In short, most of these business owners plan to finish this transaction and return to their hometowns.

    In the next few days, they received invitations from the Western King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom one after another, inviting them to discuss important matters together. The bosses of various business houses only said that the Taiping Army still refused to let them go. As the so-called geese plucking their hair, the Taiping Army would still be like the Manchu Qing Dynasty.  He would only give up after extorting a donation, so he had no choice but to come to meet him. Anyway, it would be a knife to extend his head, and it would be a knife to shrink his head. Why not take a look at what this miraculous King of the West, who is spread all over the country, is like?  people.

    After arriving at the meeting, the Chinese businessmen did not expect that there were also foreign businessmen participating, many people thought.  Is Changmao so brave that he still wants foreign businessmen to pay donations?  No matter what, there will be a good show today.

    Later, they met the King of the West of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He seemed to be a rough man, but he was actually very knowledgeable. Moreover, he publicly announced several policies of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom towards merchants, which greatly reassured the Chinese businessmen. Many of them had given up their plans.  Thoughts of hometown.  Then Xi Wang talked about the General Administration of Investment's plan, and everyone's eyes lit up. It seemed that Xi Wang was going to expand business in Shanghai.  Everyone has been in business for many years, and their ability to view and seize opportunities is not ordinary. Many people can see at a glance that this is really an opportunity.  The Qing Dynasty was in a state of decay.  The soldiers were defeated in consecutive battles, and riots broke out in various places. People at that time knew that the Manchu Qing Dynasty was in decline and would not be able to survive for long. Even foreigners became guests of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.  It's not bad to follow the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, except for a few families with official backgrounds who are still worried about it.  More people have put away their biggest concerns.

    Now the King of the West is talking about discussing customs tariff details.  This is even more comforting. When did the Manchus and the Qing Dynasty pay as much attention to the opinions of businessmen as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom did?  In the eyes of Manchu officials, businessmen were just a group of low-class people who had nothing to respect except money.  The status of businessmen was underground. Even the Wu family, one of the thirteen richest families in Guangzhou and one of the richest in the world, was as humble as an ant in the eyes of the Qing court.

    Yu Songnian frowned.  When the cheers of the crowd subsided, he stood up and cupped his hands and said, "King Xi, determining tariffs is a matter for the government. What does it have to do with us, the common people?"

    Xiao Yungui chuckled and said: "Boss Yu is wrong. Do we Chinese businessmen only want to do business locally? In the future, we can also go out and do business all over the world. This tariff involves the tax rate of our domestic import and export goods.  , it must have something to do with you. I know that the tariff rate will ultimately be determined by our government department, but before it is enacted, I can discuss it with you. After all, we are all people who have been doing business for many years.  I also know the pros and cons of each. In short, this king has only two purposes for setting this tariff detail. One is to get rid of the old habits of the Manchus and make our heavenly kingdom richer. The other is that this tariff regulation can make the business and trade in the Shanghai market more fair.  , and then develop Shanghai's commerce, so that everyone can get more for their work, and there will no longer be the dirty things like before, such as collusion between officials and businessmen, and rivalry between friends! I said it here today, and I will say it again in the future, our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will not  If you are good at competing for profits with the people, you will naturally want a win-win situation when doing business. A win-win situation means that both our Tianguo Office and all the companies will be profitable, and only in this way can the country and the people be prosperous!"

    After King Xi finished speaking, the Chinese businessmen applauded and cheered again, and even Yu Songnian couldn't help but pat his hands a few times.

    After listening to Midile's translation, Wenhan touched his high nose and smiled bitterly and whispered: "Our British Empire is fettered by the hateful Russians. Our retreat at this moment may be creating a powerful enemy for ourselves. This  The King of the West is a formidable and visionary man, and he will definitely become a powerful enemy of our British Empire in the future."

    Midile smiled and said: "Perhaps we can also use him to further open up the huge market in China. No.???  "

    Wenhan took a breath and said: "Maybe, at least so far, he has been more open-minded and pragmatic than the Manchu government. So far, our interests and cooperation are consistent. Next, let's look at the King of the West  What are the tariff details that Li Taitai will be invited to participate in formulating?"

    Midile nodded. He was a little curious about the actions of the King of the West. He boldly hired a little-known figure, Li Taitai, to participate in formulating the tariff details of the Taiping Army. Midile knew this Li Taitai, although he was very unfamiliar.  He came to China a long time ago, but he is very young and is only a translation secretary at the British Consulate. Does he have such talent?

    When the counselor of the West Hall carried a huge wooden board with several long pieces of rice paper stapled to it, the words "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Shanghai Customs Tariff Detailed Draft" were written in large characters on the far right, followed by small characters written in traditional Chinese regular script.  , in line with Chinese writing habits.

    Although she has been in China for many years, Midile is still not used to Chinese writing habits. They are used to writing from right to left, so Midile had to stand up and take a closer look.  Amidst the exclamations, more and more foreign interpreters quickly translated the above words.

    Beside the wooden board, Li Taitai, wearing a tuxedo, stood beside the wooden board. He cleared his throat and began to elaborate on the tariff details sentence by sentence.  Next to him stood Wang Libin, the translator of Mohai Library. Li Taitai spoke a sentence in English and he translated a sentence in Chinese.  Make sure that all the Chinese and foreign businessmen present can understand it.

    This tariff detail involves the tariff rates for more than 250 goods traded between China and foreign countries. These goods are divided into different categories, including food, industrial, daily necessities, medicinal materials, luxury goods, etc.  Generally speaking, the import tax rate is similar to that set by the Manchu Qing Dynasty. But what is surprising is that opium is also listed as a medicinal material, but the tax rate is very high, with a tax rate of sixty taels per hundred kilograms.  It makes many foreigners feel dissatisfied.

    The opium trade has a long history in China. In fact, it was introduced to China as early as the Tang Dynasty. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty began to impose import taxes on opium.  At that time, taxes were also paid on imported medicinal materials, with a tax of two cents per ten kilograms.  After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties banned the sea for a long time. In the 23rd year of Kangxi, the sea ban was again lifted. Opium followed the old Ming Dynasty system.  The import tax on medicinal materials is levied at three cents per ten kilograms.  The tax rate is slightly heavier than that of the Ming Dynasty.  In the seventh year of Yongzheng's reign.  The Qing Dynasty banned smoking for the first time. This ban actually only banned opium dens and smugglers, but did not stop collecting opium taxes.  In the first year of Jiaqing, the Qing government stopped imposing opium taxes and did not recognize the legality of the opium trade.

    After the Opium War, the five ports were opened to trade.  However, the Qing government still did not recognize the legality of the opium trade, and smuggling of the opium trade became increasingly widespread. In 1842, the number of opium imported from the United Kingdom into China reached more than 33,000 boxes, and Hong Kong became an opium smuggling center.  Macau is another opium warehouse besides Hong Kong, and Shanghai and Guangzhou are the two largest ports for opium import.  On the one hand, the Manchu Qing Dynasty secretly refused to recognize the legality of the opium trade; on the other hand, the opium smuggling trade was repeatedly banned, which also caused a large amount of silver outflow.  The customs at the Manchu and Qing treaty ports were inherently corrupt and incompetent, and the navy's anti-smuggling operations were superficial. Among them, the Manchu and Qing customs, navy officials, and opium smugglers were in complete discord, covering each other's interests, resulting in repeated opium bans. Moreover, the Manchus were cowardly and still had opium.  The antecedents of the war were that even if smuggling of opium was discovered, they would not dare to provoke foreigners.

    Opium smugglers are accustomed to enjoying tax-free treatment. Suddenly, the Taiping Army said that opium can be imported as medicinal materials, which is quite welcome. However, such a heavy tax of 60 taels per 100 kilograms will greatly reduce profit margins.  In fact, in Xiao Yungui's view, if China wants to ban smoking, it must first start with itself. As Pu Dingcha said, if no one smoked opium in China, there would naturally be no opium trade. Why was there no opium epidemic in Japan in the same era?  The root of the problem still lies with his own people. Xiao Yungui doesn't mind importing opium as medicinal materials, but after importing it, it becomes Chinese goods. He must strictly control the flow of opium in the country and treat opium as a drug with strictly controlled uses.  limit.  The Taiping Army strictly prohibited smoking in its territory. The opium dens in Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi and other places have been wiped out. The Taiping Army found and killed all the unscrupulous traders who imported opium, and confiscated all the opium they seized. Xiao Yungui wanted to take a look.  How much money and lives did these merchants lose?

    Xiao Yungui believes that as long as the domestic market is contained, the opium trade will be under control.  Of course, he also had to give an explanation to the great powers. He simply and generously imitated the old practice of the Ming Dynasty and imported opium as a medicinal material, but imposed heavy taxes. He wanted to pave the way for a strict investigation of opium smuggling in the future.  Come on, the opium trade is legal here, but when you come here you have to pay high tariffs, smuggling?  If you find one and arrest each one, who told you not to use legal channels?  This is one of the important bargaining chips for Xiao Yungui to compete with the great powers on tariffs.

    The Englishman Bill of Poshun & Co. immediately stood up to protest. As the representative of the East India Company's interests in the Far East, he naturally could not accept such tariffs.??, China has always been a place where the East India Company smuggled and dumped opium. This tariff rate will seriously affect opium sales.

    As soon as Bill protested, many British businessmen also started making noises. Xiao Yungui naturally knew that raising the opium tax rate would bring about protests from these people. He stood up and said loudly: "Opium is a harmful thing, but I still list it in  The tax rate is already liberalized! Don¡¯t think that I don¡¯t know how many boxes of opium are smuggled in every day on the ground in Shanghai! I believe that it still has merit as an analgesic drug. Among our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom troops  , many medical officials are using opium as medicine. Since it is a medicine, it is naturally classified as a drug. Of course, it has no benefit to the physical and mental health of our people, so it must be heavily taxed to prevent its proliferation!"

    Wenhan was not surprised. Li Taitai participated in formulating the tariff details. He had already learned about some of the changes through Li Taitai. He knew that negotiating the tariff details originally required negotiation and litigation to obtain benefits. Xiao Yungui actually listed opium.  The trade was legal, which surprised Wen Han, but it was also expected that Xiao Yungui increased the tax rate on opium.

    At that moment Wen Han stood up and said: "Your Majesty the King of the West, it is your army's freedom how to classify the types of goods, but on behalf of the merchants of the British Empire, I want to explain to you that your army has promised to protect the existing interests of all countries. Opium is in the "Fifth Five-Year Plan".  There is no tax rate listed in the Treaty Port Regulations, so it cannot be one of the commodities subject to a fixed tax rate."

    Xiao Yungui snorted and said: "In the Treaty of Jiangning, it was never stipulated that opium was a legal trade commodity. That's good. Since the previous agreement cannot be changed, why did the various countries ask us, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, to re-define it a few days ago?  Tariff details? In other words, we can not list opium as one of the goods for legal trade. I will immediately order a strict investigation of the opium trade in Shanghai. Anyone who is found to be smuggled will be arrested and inspected. I will not show mercy.  of!"

    Wen Han was at a loss for words. In fact, Xiao Yungui and the Taiping Army had promised that all countries could continue to pay taxes according to the old Manchu and Qing rules if they did not benefit from vested interests. However, if the envoys of various countries wanted to seek more desired benefits, they would be able to do so to a greater extent.  Participated in the formulation of Shanghai customs tariffs, increased influence on China Customs, and sought greater benefits for merchants from various countries. Therefore, he used this as an excuse to set up obstacles for the Taiping Army to collect customs tariffs, hoping to force Xiao Yungui to submit.

    "But it was unexpected that Xiao Yungui took on this problem and re-determined the tariff details, but brought up the opium trade issue, which made the ministers and foreign businessmen of various countries, especially the representatives of the East India Company, feel very uncomfortable.  (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature. The novels will be better and updated faster!
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