Chapter 311 The Bustling Capital

History seems to repeat itself, and the capital has ushered in the moment of price reduction and house selling.

"A 10% discount on the luxury house!"

"The boss resigned and returned home, and the house is sold at 20% off!"

"The boss failed in business, and the house is sold at 30% off with tears!"

...

It seems that overnight, the owners of the houses in the capital have been in trouble and are in a hurry to sell their luxury houses. The reasons are varied, and they just want to get cash quickly.

In any era, there is no shortage of speculators. As early as the Warring States Period, there was a businessman named Lu Buwei who was good at buying rare goods. There are also a group of speculators in the capital today.

At the end of last year, the news that the court planned to build the outer city of Beijing was reported, resulting in the replacement of houses in Beijing, so the price of houses in Beijing fell.

But everyone knows the subsequent development of the plot. Because the cabinet chief Wan An revealed that he was speculating in houses, the court finally decided to shelve the plan to build the outer city of Beijing, causing the house prices in the capital to rise again.

Subsequently, managing the Yellow River and recovering Jianzhou became the two biggest tasks of the court, and both of these tasks required a large amount of silver to support.

That is why, in the interpretation of house speculators, not to mention that the court has publicly decided to abandon the plan to build the outer city of Beijing, the current financial situation also makes it impossible to have a budget to build the outer city of Beijing.

Without the expectation of the outer city of Beijing, the houses in Beijing are naturally "scarce and expensive".

The Beijing house speculators are backed by the powerful class, and their financial lending industry has been hit by the court, so they have a lot of funds in their hands.

As a result, these funds continue to flow into the real estate market in Beijing, causing the house prices in Beijing to not only return to the level at the end of last year, but also to rise in a wave of prices, allowing these house speculators to obtain very considerable book profits.

"Damn it, who came up with this idea?"

"Dong Shan, the Right Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, what a bastard!"

"What's the point of complaining now? Sell the house quickly!"

...

There is no impenetrable wall in the world. As the content of the highest meeting spread, almost all the powerful and wealthy people in the capital became panicked.

This luxury tax targets the food, clothing, housing and transportation of the rich. Although the tax on "transportation" is the highest, the biggest impact is actually on housing.

The houses in the prime locations of the capital have long exceeded the reasonable range, and there are houses that cost thousands of taels. If the house is decorated in the Jiangnan style, even if it is ten thousand taels, it is not even eligible for viewing. The price is already outrageous.

Once the court imposes a real estate luxury tax, not to mention that the real estate bubble in Beijing may be burst, and the houses in their hands will need to pay 30% or even higher real estate luxury taxes.

That's right, the best thing to do now is to sell the houses in your hands as soon as possible to stop profits and losses before the news of the luxury tax spreads thoroughly in the capital.

In the last few days of the Spring Festival, houses in Beijing were on sale at a discount, which also provided a topic for the people in Beijing to talk about after dinner.

"What's going on? It's happening again?"

"Is the court really going to build Beijing's outer city?"

"Don't joke around. I heard that the court doesn't have enough money to govern and develop Jianzhou!"

...

When the people in Beijing saw a similar situation happen again, they couldn't help but think of the scene at the end of last year, but many people knew that the court was unlikely to build Beijing's outer city.

In fact, Beijing's outer city did not reach the point where it had to be built. In addition to highlighting the emperor's achievements, it was a bargain for the powerful who owned plots of land in the suburbs.

It's just that ordinary people have limited sources of information, so they don't know the real reason why Beijing's houses suddenly plummeted, and they even got a lot of wrong information.

Zizi...

A dozen women walked out of the poor area together on the snow, holding one or two pieces of white cotton cloth in their hands, leaving a line of footprints in the snow.

"I heard that the court is going to collect a head tax!"

"It's ridiculous. You have to pay taxes even when you eat in a restaurant?"

"Not only that, we have to pay taxes even when we walk in the future!"

"I heard that anyone who has a house has to pay taxes, otherwise they are not allowed to live in the house!"

"In short, the court will collect taxes on everything related to food, clothing, housing and transportation in the future. If you don't pay, you will be beaten and locked up."

...

This group of women naturally likes to listen to some gossip. Everyone seems to have a unique source of information, and they chatter all the way.

No matter what era, the people are particularly sensitive to taxes, and "harsh government is more ferocious than a tiger" is not just a saying. Many people were forced to break up their families because of taxes.

Fortunately, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang set the lowest tax of thirty-one in the feudal dynasty. Although the officials below inevitably made money from it, they were still able to make a living overall.

It was only with the help of some people that the luxury tax was interpreted as "the court levied taxes on ordinary people in the four aspects of food, clothing, housing and transportation", even if they went to a restaurant, they would be taxed.

Due to the lack of reports from authoritative media, such things are now widely spread, naturally making some people believe that the taxation is true, and the court is indeed preparing to squeeze them madly.

Liu Ying held two pieces of white cotton cloth in her hands, frowning tightly, and did not participate in the discussion of this topic from beginning to end.

"District Chief Liu, what should we do in the future?"

"What should we do?"

"How should we live if the court levies taxes like this?"

"Don't believe everything you hear, the court will definitely not do this!"

"District Chief Liu, they said it very clearly, the court has no money now, so taxes must be levied!"

"Now it's just gossip, don't take it seriously. Let's exchange the cotton cloth for money and have a happy New Year!"

...

Liu Ying has jumped from a team leader to a district chief. Because he is very enthusiastic and capable, he has a high prestige in this group.

It's just that this topic was suppressed, but several women seemed to be in a bad mood. After all, no one wants to give all the fruits of their hard work to the court.

As the year draws to a close, there are obviously more people on the street, and there are even people who keep going home in a hurry with New Year's goods.

Royal Cloth Shop, this is in a prosperous area.

Liu Ying and his group entered the store and came to the counter with ease, but they were slightly stunned.

Shopkeeper Sun was not inside the counter, nor did he greet customers in person in the sales area. Because they often come here, they know that Shopkeeper Sun must be recruiting important guests in the teahouse inside, or perhaps the generous steward eunuch.

After standing for only a moment, Wei Juan, wearing a bullfighting suit, came out, and the shopkeeper Qian, who was smiling, followed him.

"When should the price increase? This matter is clear!"

"Don't worry, eunuch, I have remembered it clearly!"

Wei Juan is now in charge of the royal cloth industry, and has opened a royal weaving branch in the local area. Because of the emperor's appreciation, his status is now rising, and he has become the eunuch in charge of the imperial horse supervisor.

This time I came to check the accounts and look through the recent harvest of the store.

Because the cloth produced is good and cheap, and the scale effect has been produced, the cost of dyeing and printing has been greatly reduced, so the royal cotton cloth is hard to find a rival in the entire capital.

Wei Juan was about to leave, but he saw a group of women holding white cotton cloth standing in front of the counter, and finally his eyes fell on Liu Ying and said, "Are you Liu Ying?"

"It's the humble name of a common woman!" Liu Ying knew that the eunuch in front of him was a big shot, and hurriedly responded.

Wei Juan was not the kind of person who looked down on others, but he smiled and said, "Don't be so self-deprecating. The cloth you weave has been sent to the palace. His Majesty said it was well woven!"

Ah?

Liu Ying was stunned with shock, but she never thought that the cloth she wove would be sent to the palace and praised by the emperor.

The other female weavers were also shocked. They were skeptical at first, but they knew that this was a big eunuch, so they had to believe it.

Wei Juan saw Liu Ying's shock, turned his head and looked at the weavers present, smiled and said, "You work hard, the Royal Cloth Shop will not treat you badly!"

After these words came out, the female employees present were not too excited, and a bitter smile appeared on their faces.

If the court levied taxes everywhere on their food, clothing, housing and transportation, no matter how hard they tried, they would not have enough money to pay taxes, so how could they talk about a good life?

"Eunuch Wei, I heard that the court will levy taxes at the beginning of the year. Is this true?" Liu Ying gritted her teeth and asked immediately.

The female weavers present immediately became alert and turned their heads to look at Wei Juan. This eunuch from the palace must know something about the inside story.

Wei Juan was stunned at first, and then said with a smile: "You are well-informed. The court will indeed levy taxes at the beginning of the year, but..."

Ah?

The female employees present were immediately disappointed when they heard that the court really wanted to levy taxes at the beginning of the year.

"Eunuch Wei, but what?" Liu Ying also felt that her good life was overshadowed, and immediately asked nervously.

Wei Juan saw the reactions of the crowd, but smiled and said: "If you want to pay taxes, you may have to work ten times harder to have a chance!"

"Why?" Before Liu Ying asked, a woman next to her asked puzzledly.

The female employees present were also very puzzled. Hasn't this taxation always been aimed at their lower-class groups? Since when does taxation need a threshold?

Wei Juan guessed their concerns and said jokingly: "Do you know what this tax is called?"

"Eunuch Wei, we just heard that food, clothing, housing and transportation will be taxed!" Liu Ying exchanged glances with others and responded honestly.

Wei Juan knew that this was the result of information asymmetry, so he revealed: "You only know one thing. The court does want to tax food, clothing and housing, but this tax is called luxury tax! What is luxury, this does not need to be explained by the miscellaneous family, right?"

Luxury?

When Liu Ying heard this word, he suddenly felt a sense of enlightenment.

Wei Juan looked at the people present, scanned their clothes and shook his head gently: "As for you, even if you work ten times harder, you can hardly wear silk and satin and live in a house worth thousands of taels, right? This luxury tax is not something you can pay if you want to."

"Silk and satin and a house worth thousands of taels?" The female employees present looked at their broken shoes silently, and couldn't help showing a self-deprecating smile on their faces.

"Eunuch Wei, so this is actually a tax on the rich?" Liu Ying seemed to have understood something.

Wei Juan couldn't help but look at Liu Ying with a high opinion of him, and immediately nodded seriously: "You are right, in fact, this is a tax on the rich! Originally, Zhou Jing, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, proposed to impose an additional tax on the people of the world, but the emperor said that as long as he was in power, he would never impose taxes on the people! Now I have also heard some people talking nonsense about the luxury tax. You just need to listen to it, and don't take some words seriously. This tax will never be imposed on you. Your Majesty is indeed a good emperor who loves the people like his own children!"

"Thank you, Eunuch Wei, for clearing up my doubts!" ​​Liu Ying and other female employees felt ashamed and thanked him sincerely.

Wei Juan knew that someone must have deliberately created rumors about this, and even hoped to use the people's opposition to stop the luxury tax. However, he did not need to pay too much attention to this kind of clown.

Today's court is not what it used to be. Even if you step out in an upright manner, it is impossible to stop the emperor's will, let alone this kind of heresy.

No matter how those people fan the flames, the beginning of the new year is about to be a scene of sharpening knives against pigs and sheep, and this extravagant tax may bring surprises to the emperor.

Putting aside everything else, the luxury tax on this house in the capital is at least a very considerable amount.

“It turns out that the food, clothing, housing and transportation tax is fake!”

"I can't say it's fake, but it's a tax on the rich!"

"I have long been our emperor and a good emperor, but you still believe those rumors!"

"That's right, you really follow the wind and rain. The emperor loves his people like a son, but you actually miss him so much!"

…

The female employees present watched Wei Li leave. When Wei Juan walked away, they started talking again, and even criticized the women who had brought wrong news earlier.

Liu Ying was not involved. When handing the cotton cloth to Shopkeeper Qian, she smiled and said, "Shopkeeper Sun, it's still the same as before, just change it into cloth tickets!"

Although there are various voices, she always firmly believes in the credibility of the court, and she also understands that the royal cloth shop has given her a new life, so now she has cloth tickets in her hands, which can be regarded as a kind of support for the Hongzhi Dynasty.

As time goes by, more and more people know the truth.

Although there are many false statements spread in the capital, the court's various measures have now accumulated a high reputation, and the true news will eventually reach the ears of ordinary people.

"This extravagant tax is beautifully collected, long live the emperor!"

"Haha... I wonder why those people are jumping up and down. It turns out that the court is going to levy a tax on the rich!"

"If they really taxed us poor people, Shuntian Prefecture would have already imposed more taxes and levies, but what I see is that everyone is making money growing cotton!"

"Other emperors don't know, but you can't forget that our emperor is willing to bear the name of a tyrant in order to accommodate millions of victims!"

…

After learning the true situation, the people at the bottom immediately rejoiced in the misfortune, and greatly welcomed the extravagant tax that the imperial court would introduce after the new year.

In particular, many people set off firecrackers in advance just to celebrate the good news.

As for those houses in the capital that are eager to put them up for sale, due to last year’s experience and the fact that they are not ordinary people who can afford a thousand taels of house, there has not been an excessively high transaction volume.

Faced with the upcoming luxury tax, the real estate speculators in Beijing will be most affected, a mysterious organization with huge power.