"The British's income this year is 3 million British pounds." Song Ke pondered: "So far, their movable property tax has increased thirty-seven times, secular subsidies have increased 20 times, priest subsidies have increased 22 times, plus tariff income, a total income of 3.15 million pounds, and the direct income of the royal family has also increased by more than 200,000 pounds. They are building large warships with more than 1,000 tons, and their ambitions are really great. We must be careful, the Formosa castle must be accelerated!"

Are the taxes and tax rates of the British completely different from those in the Ming Dynasty or have a strong medieval legacy? The movable property tax is levied based on people's property, while the taxes such as priests and secular subsidies are religious taxes. After tax increases again and again, the per capita tax burden of the British reached 0.15 from around 0.1 pounds during Henry II, and the increase amount was quite large. This was just a direct tax, and the tax revenue of a large number of trading companies increased.

For example, the tax amount of the wool import and export company exceeded 100,000 pounds last year, which was ten times higher than two hundred years ago. The red wine, woolen and other goods tax amounted to over 400,000 pounds, and the tax amount of the Hanseatic Merchant Alliance also exceeded 100,000 pounds.

In addition, the debt ratio of the Queen of England has also increased significantly. Kings such as George and Edward were scared to death by borrowing tens of thousands of pounds. Now Queen Elizabeth's debt has exceeded 460,000 pounds, and it is directly moving towards 500,000 pounds.

Song Ke did not say much about Gao Wenlu, the defeated general. In addition to the honor and courage of soldiers, the important thing is warships and artillery. These things are all purchased with real money. In comparison, the emerging Britain was a pure empire, and the Dutch were an alliance of bankers and navigators after all. This alliance was too scattered, resulting in prosperity and prosperity of the people's trade. The number of merchant ships could not be transformed into war power. In contrast, the British system at this time also had the remnants of the king's politics and religion. Decades later, there was a war in which the king was sent to the guillotine. But the more such a system, its war power was much stronger than that of the Dutch.

As the upcoming governor of Taiwan, Song Ke is of course considering much more complicated and far-reaching than a pure general like Gao Wenlu.

"Anyway, after controlling Formosa Island, trade with various places is much smoother, including raw silk trade, deer skin trade, sugar sugar, porcelain..." Gao Wenlu drank another cup and laughed: "The prospects are bright. I am already imagining my retirement life after returning to Europe."

Song Ke smiled and said, "Why go back to Europe? It's great to retire in Batavia or even Formosa. I just want to stay in Formosa. The scenery is good and the climate is good. Looking at the blue sea by the sea and fishing leisurely. How fun is it."

"His Governor said very well, I will consider it."

Song Ke thought and suddenly said, "How are the Ming people in the Ten Villages of Bengang recently? I heard that they get along well with Li Dan's son Li Guozhu. The civil strife in Ming Dynasty we are looking forward to does not seem to have happened."

"Yes." Gao Wenlu said: "This is really disappointing."

Song Ke pondered: "I heard that their leader has also changed, from southerners to a group of merchants from the north. They have strong military power, mainly musketeers?"

"Yes," said Gao Wenlu: "We also have warehouses and moored ships in Bengang. The Ming people from the north were sent by Hutchison Trading Company. They also had their own ships. After crossing the Yan family's forces, they took over the Shizhai ships. Now they also own more than 20 merchant ships and warships, and their strength is quite good... Of course, they are still far behind us. Their main trading point is the waterway to Japan and Luzon, but their relationship with the Spaniards is very bad, and most of them are re-export trade. Because of our restrictions, the Spanish merchant ships cannot come. I think their interest growth point will not be too high."

Song Ke said: "Do they have any plans to compete with us for the maritime territory?"

Gao Wenlu laughed and said, "Their naval strength is not even a fraction of ours... All the warships combined cannot beat the Batavia."

"But..." Gao Wenlu pondered: "According to the information, Hutchison's warships collected taxes at sea and had friction with our merchant ships. On Formosa Island, the so-called Dongfan Island of the Ming Dynasty, Hutchison's Taiwan Island they called, Hutchison also continued to advance inland. Their methods were very clever, and they used small fortresses to cooperate with cavalry and a large number of musketeers to advance, and the natives could not do anything. However, they were relatively ruthless against the natives and refused to use massacre methods. I think it would be difficult for them to truly control the territory they had captured."

"The Ming people are indeed civilized people's countries, and they will not do anything unscrupulous in places close to their own territory."

Song Ke's explanation was close to the colonists' mentality, and Gao Wenlu nodded in agreement.

"We can't sit and develop by them." Song Ke said: "On land, our strength is not enough for the time being. The people of Hutchison heard that there are thousands and a large number of musketeers, which I feel is even harder than the Ming Navy. As for the sea, their strength is far inferior. Since they are taxing at sea, we will destroy their taxation actions everywhere, constantly weaken their maritime trade, and crack down on their cash income, which will make it difficult for them to maintain. However, this measure must be carried out slowly first. After all, we have not yet established a stable foothold and are the main priority."

Gao Wenlu said: "If this is the case, we need to transfer more warships."

Song Ke said: "First wait for us to escape from Penghu, then transport materials to build the Rhlan Chateau. When the fortress is built, we will choose a site to build a second fortress, or even a third one. With the fortress as the center, we will clear out the natives, stabilize our strength, do business with Ming merchants, and grab Hutchison's commercial territory. At the same time, I will transfer large warships from Batavia to show our strength. At that time, we can rub against Hutchison's warships at sea, and even give them a war. If these Ming merchants are defeated, our strategic layout in East Asia and Southeast Asia can be truly completed smoothly."

Song Ke said with a serious expression: "Before this, be careful, don't give Hutchison a slight tribute, don't expose our strategic goals. Give them an illusion, just like what we did at Bengang, making them think that we just need a trade re-export port base. Once we want to take action, we have to have a thunder blow, and make Hutchison feel our strength and determination!"

"Yes!" Gao Wenlu stood up and agreed attentively.

...

"Mr. Junmen, this is the dividend this season."

There are more than ten silver boxes in front of Li Pingzhi, each box containing more than 200 kilograms and 2,000 taels. This season, the dividends given to Zheng Guochang are more than 20,000 taels.

In name, Zheng Guochang has dry shares in the grassland layout in Hutchison's northern grassland layout, which is the same treatment as Ma Chengen. During Hutchison's rise, Zheng Guochang and Ma Chengen made the most efforts, and of course the most profitable. Ma Chengen has been transferred to Jinzhou and has not suffered any losses so far, and has performed quite well. He is much stronger than Ma Shilong, the general of Liao Town, who was supported by Sun Chengzong... Ma Shilong is also a Western Army family, but the strength of the servants is too weak, let alone He Ma

The family cannot be compared. Even if the generals in western Liaoning are not mentioned, the Zu family will not mention them. Ma Shilong is far inferior to the strength of the other generals below. Sun Chengzong also considered balancing the strength of the generals in western Liaoning and deliberately pushed Ma Shilong and others to the throne. At this time, the generals in western Liaoning were far less powerful than ten years later. Even if they were dissatisfied with Sun Ge Lao's decision, they could only hold their noses to endure it. However, this also led to the resentment of the generals in western Liaoning and the generals did not work hard, and the consequences would soon be revealed.

In addition to Zheng Guochang's efforts in the north, in Fujian, Hutchison has quickly opened up the situation in the past six months, which is of course closely related to Zheng Guochang.

The Dutch captured warships were sold to Hutchison at a cheap price and handed over them properly, putting pressure on wealthy merchants such as Xu Xinsu, so that Hutchison could buy cheap and sufficient raw silk, establishing friendship with Fujian Navy. Yu Zigao and other naval generals began to interact with Hutchison for Zheng Guochang's sake... You should know that in the eyes of the serious naval generals, there is no truly good maritime merchant? It is said that it is a maritime merchant, or a pirate!

In history, Yu Zigao was reluctant to recruit pirates such as Zheng Zhilong and had to lead the navy to clear it out. As a result, he was defeated and the essence of the guards was completely lost. Yu Zigao himself was arrested and asked to beheaded. From this point of view, the navy's attitude towards the so-called maritime pirates is very clear.

Hutchison also always gave the impression that the navy was obedient and law-abiding. The cultivation in Taiwan was also a good thing. It attracted many poor people on the coast. Of course, Zheng Guochang still supported this matter. Otherwise, according to the past practice, the people would definitely not be allowed to leave their hometowns at will, because overseas people did not accept the kingdom and belonged to the land outside the transformation. Of course, the emperor of the Central Plains would not allow the people under his rule to leave at will. The so-called abandoning his parents' country is not worth merciless, and this kind of thing is not without a market.

Zheng Guochang has helped a lot. This time, the money Li Pingzhi received was sent by the Taiwan Marine Department, and of course there is another dividend from the north.

"I just accepted it with shame." Zheng Guochang waved his sleeves without any fireworks, and naturally a servant came over to carry the silver box in. Everyone smiled happily.

"Mr. Jun.," Li Pingzhi smiled again, "General Yu and Master Sun of Haifang have their own shares, and they have already been sent to the mansion of all the masters."

"Oh, very good." Zheng Guochang was indeed a little worried. Hutchison definitely did not dare to neglect him, but would he easily ignore the other officials in Fujian because he had too close relationship with him, especially senior generals like Yu Zigao, who could definitely not neglect him.

Hearing Li Pingzhi's words, Zheng Guochang's face showed satisfaction. He thought for a while and said, "I heard that Hutchison is still short of money in the north. Let's talk to Wen Lan for me and Wen Lan. Don't send the dividends in the past few months. He has a shortage of money in the past few miles, so why bother to pay for this?"

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Chapter completed!