Black Corporation: Joseon

Episode 1013: The name of firewood is arms race (6)

“Promises must be kept. Especially promises between countries.”

“Let’s be honest. We protect the empire because it is powerful.”

“Shh!”

“The Empire’s complaints are complaints, but there has been a lot of talk about this within us as well. It’s time to take action.”

In this way, the process of abolishing local tariffs, which can be called double taxation, has begun. Here Italian officials found a new source of finance.

The method was simple.

-Instead of abolishing local tariffs, raise the rate of import duties levied at ports.

From the merchants’ point of view, this was still a decision they could accept. As the tax rate increased, the amount of tax to be paid increased, but it was a low amount compared to the amount paid every time one passed through the city or gateway. On the contrary, there was a backlash from cities that suddenly lost a valuable tax source. But local merchants stopped them.

“Think of the taxes we paid every time we built another city! This will actually bring you great profits!”

“profit?’

“Do you think there are one or two merchants from the guild who only stayed in the city because of those damn tariffs? Now they too will begin to travel commercially!”

“Aha!”

Most of the city’s leaders were large merchants or bankers. Thanks to this, they were able to immediately grasp the hidden meaning of that answer.

-Merchants are becoming more active . If so, more taxes will come in.

– Immediate taxes are not everything. If this happens, merchants will also need more capital and will eventually have to take out loans from us! The

city’s leader concluded that it was in everyone’s interest . The Italian government no longer complained and accepted the central government’s decision. Having secured financial resources in this way, the Italian government began to more actively pursue the construction of ironclad ships.

This was the beginning.

Italian officials became more active in reforming the tax system. This made the government’s finances sound. As the government’s finances became sound, the government’s capabilities were strengthened and the Italian government began to act more actively. Meanwhile, Italian politicians and citizens who were observing the situation were monitoring the central government’s officials. He praised:

“As expected, since unification, talented people have emerged!”

“It’s not just talented people! Now I can draw the big picture with ease!’

The people of the empire tilted their heads as they saw the Italians praising instead of complaining.

“Isn’t it strange that Europe, even though it’s one country, has separate tariffs for each neighborhood?”

“Isn’t it even more strange that they didn’t know that there were many problems with their tax affairs until now?”

Although most people in the empire, except for a few experienced and knowledgeable people, did not know, the influence of the empire was beyond imagination.

* * *

Italy’s tax reform European powers, seeing the positive effects, soon tried it in their own countries. Here, there was a difference between success and failure.

Those who succeeded in reforming were Portugal, England, and France, and those who failed were Spain and Habsburg. Portugal’s success was in some ways natural. It was Italy. To be exact, Portugal was the first country to come into contact with the empire, along with Florence. Naturally, it had early access to the culture and various systems of the empire. It

was not just the empire. In the process of traveling between the empires, it was also possible to interact with the Ming and Japan. This was the biggest reason for the success of reform. At this time, the empire and Ming had the most advanced systems in the world. Therefore, Italy and Portugal were the first to begin exchanges with the countries of Northeast Asia, led by the empire. It was a successful reform.

It was perhaps natural that France was able to succeed. Since the era of Charles VII, the prewar king, France had been reducing the power of the nobility and, conversely, increasing the power of the nation. In order to increase the power of the king, The support of the people, especially the urban merchants who held capital, was desperately needed.

More capital brings more support.

Knowing this well, the French nationalists and new power groups pushed for global reform and succeeded. The biggest reason for the failure of Spain and Habsburg was the defeat in the War of Italian Unification. The Kingdom of Aragon, an axis of the Spanish united royal palace, was financially based on Mediterranean trade. Not only did it lose the War of Italian Unification, but it also expanded Gibraltar and El Harsiras into the empire .

After being taken over by the Kingdom of Aragon, the commercial nobility of the Kingdom of Aragon lost their power, and the pendulum of power shifted to the Kingdom of Castile, which was mainly dominated by agricultural-based nobility.

Castile’s conservative feudal nobility strongly opposed the abolition of internal tariffs. This was because they blindly believed that the right to collect taxes was the privilege of the nobility.

-The right to collect taxes is our natural right!

-We pledged loyalty, not submission!

This was their belief.

The case of the Habsburgs, or even the Holy Roman Empire, was similar. In terms of territory alone, the country with the largest territory in Europe was the Holy Roman Empire. The problem was that among the feudal lords who divided this vast territory, few were loyal to the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. There were constant attempts to escape from the Holy Roman Empire whenever they had the opportunity, and there were also people who disobeyed or protested the emperor’s orders.

Because the environment was far from political stability, each feudal lord had no choice but to maintain strong military power. Maintaining a strong military force required a lot of funds, and the feudal lords had no intention of abolishing internal tariffs.

In the end, the Habsburgs had no choice but to continue their reform policy only within their own territories.

* * *

What was surprising was England’s success.

England was the place where the influence of the nobility became stronger after the signing of the Magna Carta. However, the commercial power that grew over time became another axis of power. The commercial powers put Magna Carta to good use.

-The contractees of Magna Carta are ‘all free people’! We also have natural rights!

In this way, a triangular system of king, nobles, and citizens (gentry commercial power) was created. England was able to successfully reform its tax system by creating a relatively stable, although still sloppy, power structure.

* * *

As tax reform was successful in Italy, Portugal, France, and England, an industry was created that was lost to history.

She was a tax collector.

During this period, European administration was much less developed than that of the East. If you look closely, it was at a similar level to Japan during the Muromachi shogunate. The most problematic area due to underdeveloped administration was tax administration. That’s why the tax collector’s wife appeared.

A profession that appeared during the Roman province period was the tax collector, who first paid taxes and then collected taxes from the people in the area they were in charge of. The problem was that the tax collectors determined the amount of tax they received.

The state or lord did not care how much the tax collectors collected as long as they received the amount they expected to collect. Because of this, tax collectors were able to raise a lot of money, and sometimes several people joined together to run a tax collection company. And as a natural consequence, many tax collectors also engaged in usury business. He lent money according to the tax amount he had set and received a loan in return.

Tax reform was a fatal reform for these tax collectors. No, administrative reform for tax reform was the beginning of the fatal blow.

* * *

“It’s difficult right now, but first, let’s increase the number of officials.”

“Look at the examples of the Empire and Kitai! An official must do what an official should do!”

Italy, Portugal, England, and France, which significantly increased the number of officials, began administrative reorganization in earnest. The first thing I dealt with was family register. The registers of births and deaths, hitherto under the control of the Church, were copied and handed over to the authorities, and the land survey was again carried out more thoroughly. With family registers and land records properly maintained, the European powers were able to move on to the next step.

* * *

The king and central officials were shocked as the tax collectors were driven out and the tax administration was run directly.

“I can’t believe this much money was leaking!”

The king and nobles, who were surprised to learn of the enormous amount of money being embezzled by the tax collector, subsequently became angry. This was due to the fact that the tax collectors collected high taxes from the people and engaged in usury, but did not pay taxes themselves.

“It’s safe to say this is treason!”

The king and the ruling class were enraged and began arresting tax collectors. Most of the contract workers who were arrested had all their assets confiscated and were publicly executed.

“We just followed the law! The taxes we have to pay are just not set by law!”

“We were justified!”

Many tax collectors protested like this, but the answer they received was simple.

“shut up!”

“Can’t you hear the people crying?”

In the end, the tax collectors realized why this was happening as they were showered with stones and dirt thrown by the people who had gathered on the way to the execution site.

‘We were the victims.’

The purpose was to direct the dissatisfaction of the people who had been suffering from taxes towards themselves rather than the king or those in power. The plan was to quell the public’s discontent with their heads hanging on the pedestal, and then to cover the budget with the wealth they had accumulated.

Against the background of blood flowing at the execution site, the era of tax collectors came to an end. In this process, many Jews suffered harm. This was because many of the tax collectors were Jewish. And Europeans’ hatred of Jews deepened even further.

* * *

Portugal, Italy, England, and France, which secured budgets through successive reforms, began to show enthusiasm for the arms race again.

It was called the ‘2nd-1st Arms Race’. And this time I was a little more clever.

It was to create an investment institution similar to the imperial investment treasury. The history of joint ventures has been going on since ancient times, but the empire was almost the first to establish a system for trading shares.

The capital raised through the investment institutions created in this way was invested in basic projects such as large-scale steel mills, and a more economical military expansion was carried out. However, expanding military budgets was an endless war of attrition.

Before we knew it, the enormous funds stolen from tax collectors were slowly starting to run out.

“Funds are the problem…”

The great powers, who were looking for new sources of funds, once again began to swallow their saliva as they looked at the colonies of other great powers.

“If only we could occupy those places…”

* * *

Meanwhile, Hyang, who was analyzing the situation in Seoul, let out a long sigh.

“Whoa, something will happen again.”

“The ministers were also worried. Is it to that extent?”

Hyang nodded to Hyun’s question while they were talking together.

“That’s right. If you look at the current situation in Europe, it’s like a bowl that’s almost full of water. The problem is that they keep pouring water in. If the water overflows…” ”

There will be a big war.”

“That’s right. That’s why we shouldn’t neglect caution either. Aren’t there three countries that are currently tied up in a long-standing alliance?”

“I will.”

“Whoa~.”

Hyang sighed again, expressing his sincerity without even realizing it.

“If war breaks out, I hope it happens after I die. Or should I wish that?”

From Hyang’s words, Hyeon could understand her feelings. It was a village that had experienced all the great wars in which the fate of the empire depended. If it were war, it was a scent that would not be surprising if one were disgusted. The officer who was recording this next to him added this.

-….The Emperor, who was observing the situation like this, was worried, and His Majesty the Emperor was also worried.

– says the officer.

What Tae Sang-tae had predicted came true almost exactly. If this time too, if things come true as Tae Sang-tae said, the officer only wishes for one thing.

Please live a long and healthy life.

“Officer? Are you writing down useless things again?”

“Oh no!”

“Tsk!”