After obtaining Ouyang Shuo's approval, Meng Zhida began to explain his currency plan.
Most importantly, there was a banknote printing bureau in the Bank of the Four Seas headquarters that was in charge of printing banknotes.
The Bank of the Four Seas planned to issue banknotes of 10 gold coins, 20 gold coins, 50 gold coins, and 100 gold coins. There were no copper coins or silver coins, nor were there any denominations below 10 gold coins.
According to Meng Zhida's vision, paper money would be positioned as a high-end currency, mainly used for bulk commodity transactions. As for the daily consumption of the common people, they mainly used copper coins, silver coins, and gold coins.
What Ouyang Shuo needed to do was to purchase the 'Papermaking Technique Manual', 'Printing Technique Manual', the blueprints of the papermaking workshop, and the blueprints of the printing workshop.
It just so happened that Ying You wanted to discuss the matter of setting up a branch in Shanhai County with the Cui Clan's Merchant Group, so Ouyang Shuo simply entrusted all the purchasing matters to Ying You. At the same time, he instructed Ying You to recruit a group of skilled craftsmen from Dali through the Cui Merchant's Association.
Taking this opportunity, Ying You proposed the reform of the territory's finance and taxation. She said, "As the territory's economy smoothly passed the incubation period and began to prosper, the tax rates set during the privatization period are no longer appropriate. The Finance Department believes that the time is ripe to raise the tax rate. "
Ouyang Shuo was speechless. Back then, he had set the tax rate of 1 out of 30 in order to encourage the development of the handicraft industry and commerce, and to successfully incubate the private economy.
The facts proved that Ouyang Shuo's decision back then was correct. With the help of the low tax rate and the low-interest loans from the Bank of the Four Seas, the private economy of Shanhai County was booming, and the tax revenue of the territory was increasing.
Just as Ying You said, since the original intention had been achieved, it was imperative to adjust the tax rate to a normal level. Otherwise, the territory's economy would have been unprecedentedly prosperous, but the territory's finances would not have benefited from it. The reason why the territory raised taxes and increased revenue was not to amass wealth, but to better invest the revenue into public services and infrastructure construction.
"What level does the Finance Department think the tax rate should be adjusted to?" Ouyang Shuo asked.
"Twenty for one."
"Twenty tax for one? Is this the final opinion of the Ministry of Finance? "
"No, in fact, the most suitable tax rate should be fifteen percent, but …" Ying You was a little hesitant.
"Just what?"
"The Finance Department is worried that the sudden change in tax rates will easily cause dissatisfaction among the people."
Ouyang Shuo shook his head and said, "The tax rate is the territory's policy, and it can't be changed at any time. It must be maintained. Since they were going to make adjustments, they had to be done in one step. You have to overcome some pressure when you have to. "
"Understood." With Ouyang Shuo expressing his support, Ying You had more confidence in pushing the plan forward. She continued, "In addition to taxes, there is also the issue of turning over the revenue of the subsidiary territories. The opinion of the Ministry of Finance is that seventy percent of the tax revenue of the subsidiary territories should be handed over to the House of the Marquis, and then the House of the Marquis will allocate it. "
Ouyang Shuo frowned. Financial power was not an independent entity. It had to be unified with administrative power.
"How about this, the Finance Bureau will consult the economic advisor again and formulate a detailed fiscal reform plan. After the territory is promoted, we will discuss the implementation." Ouyang Shuo put aside the Finance Bureau's proposal.
"Alright!" Ying You said, a little discouraged.
In the next few days, Shanhai County was completely busy with the advancement mission.
The first to make progress was the second mission, [Move into the Chamber of Commerce]. After negotiations between Shanhai County and Cui's Chamber of Commerce, it was agreed that Cui's Chamber of Commerce would set up a branch in Shanhai County to purchase goods from Shanhai County. Seafood and salt from Beihai County, tea and herbs from Pool County, furs from Youyi County, timber from Yongye County, mountain products from Gushan County, and so on were all within the scope of Cui's Chamber of Commerce.
At the same time, Cui's Chamber of Commerce also opened a shop in Shanhai County to sell goods that were scarce in Shanhai County. For example, stationery, porcelain, spices, jade ornaments, embroidery, and so on.
The establishment of the Chamber of Commerce not only promoted the export of the territory's goods, but also enriched the territory's source of goods. It further improved the territory's product structure and stimulated the territory's economy. It could be said to be killing two birds with one stone.
In addition, Cui's Bank was also introduced to Shanhai County to compete with the Bank of the Four Seas. If the Bank of the Four Seas' loans were mostly supportive, then Cui's Bank was purely an investment.
Whether it was the pottery factory outside the city, Lu Guangzhi's wooden ox processing workshop, or even Tianfeng County's Shila Lake Pearl Breeding Base, they all became the investment targets of Cui's Bank.
These invested workshops would welcome another opportunity for development.
Towards these external investments, Ouyang Shuo's attitude was only one. He would not refuse any. Of course, the Three Flower Winery, Mulberry Garden, Tea Garden, and other industries controlled by the Finance Bureau were listed as non-investment targets.
Next, Ouyang Shuo planned to lower the logging and quarries controlled by the Material Reserve Department into the scope of private investment. The Material Reserve Department would only retain strategic resources such as copper, iron, and gold mines.
All of this was to further revitalize the territory's economy.
Cui's Chamber of Commerce not only brought goods and funds, but also a large number of craftsmen and craftsmen. In the northern commercial street, Cui's Chamber of Commerce built a magnificent restaurant, Shanhai Garden.
Shanhai Garden was a combination of dining, accommodation, leisure, and entertainment. More than ten chefs brought delicacies from all over the world. The hired troupe performed every day, including acrobatics, face-changing, singing, and dancing.
It was no wonder that one of the shareholders of Sangu Restaurant, the little money-grubber Qing'er, cried, "The wolf is coming!"
In the face of such competition, Ouyang Shuo naturally did not help either side. Whether Sangu Restaurant could survive in the face of such a strong competitor like Shanhai Garden depended on the ability of the shopkeeper, Gu Sanniang.
The Chamber of Commerce's entry into Shanhai County injected a pool of living water into the economy. Naturally, Ouyang Shuo was happy to see this happen.
Task 3: Cultural Festival. The Administrative Bureau also made some progress.
Fan Zhongyan and the Director of Culture and Education, Xu Shuda, suggested holding a grand Mazu Temple Fair. During the Lantern Festival, Ouyang Shuo had the idea of holding a temple fair, but because of the limited conditions, he could only change it to the Lantern Festival.
The current Shanhai County was naturally not comparable to the Shanhai Town of the past. It already had the conditions to hold a festival, and with the Cui's Chamber of Commerce's entry, it made up for the shortcomings of Shanhai County.
The task clearly required that the festival must have a certain influence.
Since it must have influence, the people who came to participate in the Mazu Temple Fair could not be limited to the people of Shanhai County. There must be people from outside.
Ouyang Shuo first thought of the allies of the Shanhai Alliance. But after thinking about it, he felt that it was inappropriate. First, they were all players, and second, the number of people was too small to be considered influential.
In the end, Xu Shuda had a way. He proposed to spread the story of the appearance of the Mazu Temple statue in Shanhai County in Quanzhou, so as to attract the gentry, merchants, and commoners of Quanzhou to Shanhai County to participate in the Mazu Temple Fair.
Ouyang Shuo slapped his head, annoyed at his own stupidity.
In reality, Fujian was the birthplace of Mazu culture. If the natives of Quanzhou knew that the Mazu statue had appeared in Shanhai County, they would definitely be excited and would definitely come to pay their respects at all costs.
Ouyang Shuo immediately informed the Quanzhou office of Shanhai County to handle the matter.
In order to achieve a better publicity effect, Xu Shuda also embellished the story of the Mazu Temple Fair, wrote a beautiful article, and asked the office to post it in front of the entrance of the station.
Mazu occupied an extremely important position in the hearts of the people of Fujian. As soon as the news came out, it immediately caused a frenzy. At first, they did not believe it. When someone was teleported to Shanhai County, they saw the faint divine light emitted by the Mazu statue, and all of them knelt down to worship it.
Thus, the news of the Mazu miracle appearing in Shanhai County suddenly spread in Quanzhou. There was an endless stream of gentry, merchants, and commoners of Shanhai County and Quanzhou.
Some believers with strong faith even immediately moved their families to Shanhai County to settle down.
The development of the matter was beyond Ouyang Shuo's expectations. In order to settle down these believers, Ouyang Shuo had no choice but to move part of the population of Shanhai County to Yongye County and Guangshui County to settle down.
Some impatient believers could not wait for Shanhai County to make room, so they simply chose to settle down in Pool Water County, Youyi County, and Beihai County. Not only could they solve their livelihood problems, but they could also pay their respects to the Mazu statue nearby.
Among them, Beihai County attracted the most believers. This was because most of these believers were fishermen. When they found out that there was such a place like Beihai County, they were wild with joy.
Putting aside the issue of faith, there were many fishermen in the waters of Quanzhou. Coupled with overfishing, the competition between the fishermen was intense. How could it compare to the virgin land of Beihai Bay that had yet to be developed?
Every day after that, thousands of natives chose to settle down in Shanhai County. Shanhai County could not afford such a huge teleportation fee, so the natives had to pay for it themselves. Even so, it did not stop the determination and passion of the natives to worship Mazu. Even if they had to pay for it themselves, they were willing to do so.
In the end, there was even a situation where the entire fishing village was moved to Beihai County.
Beihai County Magistrate Gu Xiuwen was naturally overjoyed. He swept away the haze of being overtaken by Pool Water County and mobilized all the departments in Beihai County to settle down the natives that had been moved.
According to the statistics, the number of Quanzhou natives that had been moved to Beihai County alone had reached more than ten thousand. These natives were not penniless like the refugees. They were wealthy and had families to support them.
Beihai County welcomed another opportunity for development.
Other than Beihai County, Youyi County and Pool Water County also had five to six thousand immigrants. As for Shanhai County, it was the largest. The number of immigrants had exceeded twenty thousand, and it was still increasing.
At the same time, it meant that more than twenty thousand people had been settled down in Yongye County and Guangshui County. The population of both counties had exceeded the twenty thousand mark, and they were promoted to second-class counties.
Forty thousand immigrants was a huge number for Shanhai County. However, for Quanzhou, it was just a drop in the bucket. (To be continued.)
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