The ministers of Daqin looked at the map of the European continent that the emperor had hung up and were shocked.
There were so many countries outside of Daqin. There was also such a large land and such a vast world. There were so many countries that were at war with each other. There were so many novel things, such as guns, cannons, ships, writing, books, and languages.
What Daqin had, they also had. In terms of civilization, these people could not be regarded as barbarians.
After the Renaissance, a group of modern literary and artistic lights emerged in Europe, and their culture had a great leap forward.
At present, there were already strengths and weaknesses with the Chinese civilization. If China could not work hard to catch up and take the lead in all aspects, then when the mainstream of the world became steel and guns, the Chinese civilization would be left behind.
The sea was the future of China.
Daqin must occupy the absolute mainstream in the sea!
This was Xiao Ruxun's unchangeable will. Anyone who tried to stop him would be eliminated by him with violence and would never be left.
For this reason, he did not hesitate to launch a land reform to completely destroy the landlord class in one fell swoop. He controlled the whole country in his hands, so that the implementation of government decrees would be unimpeded, so that the local areas would no longer have the power to restrict him.
The ministers looked at the map of the European continent and stepped into a new world that they had never heard of under Xiao Ruxun's explanation.
"This is Spain, and this is Portugal. The France we are talking about is actually the Portuguese. Now, Portugal has been annexed by Spain.
Spain has invaded Luzon and was defeated by the navy led by me. This is the focus of our alliance, the State of France, and another State of Genoa is in this position.
In addition to these three countries, there is also England and Netherlands, which are here and here respectively. Without exception, they are all countries with strong shipbuilding technology. The strength of their navy is not inferior to our Daqin.
With the main force of our Myanmar Navy, we were only able to defeat one of their divisions. With the current strength of the Daqin Navy, it is only on the scale of a Spanish country. There are still other countries with strong navies on the continent of Europe.
The other thing is the musket. The musket was copied from Spain and Portugal before the Ming Dynasty. Now, under my improvement, the musket of the Daqin is no longer inferior to that of the Europeans. Moreover, the Europeans don't have the Light Awakening Flintlock Musket. The strength of the artillery is also not inferior to that of the Europeans.
But that was in the present. In other words, decades ago in the former Ming Dynasty, our seagoing ships and firearms technology were already lagging behind the Europeans. So much so that in the previous Ming Dynasty's several battles with the Europeans, we always defeated them with our advantage in numbers.
The military technology of the Europeans is no longer inferior to that of the former Ming Dynasty. They are almost on the same level as our Daqin. If we don't consider the population, we are just on an equal footing with them. "
The truth told by the Emperor himself was a huge blow to the officials.
"Equal … equal?"
The one who was most shocked was Ye Xianggao.
"Your Majesty, do you mean that the Europeans can be on an equal footing with the Daqin?!"
"In terms of military technology, it is true. In some aspects, such as arithmetic, astronomy, and shipbuilding, they are superior to the Daqin. The reason why I want to trade with the five ports is to bring these things back to the Daqin, promote, research, and surpass them in the Daqin."
Xiao Ruxun calmly told the truth.
The officials looked at each other.
The dignity of the Celestial Empire did not allow them to believe the truth of this matter. However, the Emperor's words were like gold and jade. Once a word is spoken, it cannot be retracted. How could a monarch make a joke? No matter what, they could not believe that Xiao Ruxun was lying.
Moreover, Xiao Ruxun had sent people to Europe before, so her understanding of Europe was much deeper than any of them. There was no doubt about this.
So although they were confused and shocked, they did not dare to disbelieve it.
The Europeans had indeed begun to threaten the majesty of the Celestial Empire.
"Right now, both of us have our own strengths and weaknesses, but the Europeans have already dared to sail ships from tens of thousands of kilometers away to harass us. One can only imagine how courageous and greedy they are. If Great Qin doesn't immediately wake up and improve itself, it won't be long before we fall behind. When that time comes, the Celestial Empire will be defeated; just how terrifying would that be?"
Xiao Ruxun's words were more serious, and the elites of the Daqin were even more shocked.
"How could the Daqin be defeated?"
Wang Xijue murmured in surprise.
Xiao Ruxun heard it and was very dissatisfied with Wang Xijue's attitude.
"Cabinet Elder Wang, there's no future for us if we stick to the old ways. Being immersed in the image of the Celestial Empire won't do us any good. It's time for Great Qin's people to see what kind of world this is. Have everyone open their eyes and look at the ocean; I'm sure they'll be able to see something different." Zhao Fu said with a smile.
Xiao Ruxun made a comprehensive confirmation of this policy.
He ordered the Six Ministries of the Cabinet to immediately pass this law and then send it to the local governments to prepare for implementation. It required the establishment of municipal departments in Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Ningbo, Shanghai, and Tsingtao, and the establishment of transportation officials. It also stipulated the tax proportion for doing business on the sea, and so on. It also redefined the commercial tax, which was divided according to the amount of a transaction, and levied different amounts of tax.
The emperor finally took the opportunity to start with the commercial tax.
But there were few who objected.
There must have been some, but most of these people were invited to the Central Bureau of Investigation for tea. It was not hard to imagine what kind of people were left.
They were either the old subordinates of Xiao Ruxun and the newly promoted officials of the land reform, or insignificant officials, or tamed high-ranking officials.
Who could object?
Xiao Ruxun decided to focus on the commercial tax. The larger the transaction amount and the higher the income, the more tax would be levied. Whoever dared to evade the tax would not just be put in jail.
The extremely low commercial tax set by Zhu Yuanzhang of the former Ming Dynasty was gone, and no one could resist the emperor's orders.
Xiao Ruxun's heavy fist to further strengthen the centralization of power had begun to strike.
Not only did he set up a municipal department to collect commercial tax, but he also set up transportation officials in various places. The national tax had to be sent to the central government, and the central government would then allocate the local financial budget. Zhu Yuanzhang's naive method of leaving enough for the local people to use and then escorting them to the central government was abandoned by Xiao Ruxun.
The financial and personnel power of the local areas was completely controlled by the central government, and the military power was also controlled by the central government. The local civil officials had no military power, and the local garrisons did not listen to the local officials. The local power was completely weakened, and the centralization of power was greatly strengthened.
The thing that some people were most worried about had finally happened, but they were powerless to change anything.
Xiao Ruxun absolutely would not allow them to change anything.
Soon, Xiao Ruxun had the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Cabinet submit a list of suitable municipal department officials and transportation officials for him to choose.
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