"Your Majesty, since the city division is so important, it is even more prudent to promote the candidates, the minister is still young and inexperienced, such an important position, it is difficult to take on a heavy responsibility!"

In the Ganlu Palace, Li Zexuan was silent for a long time before refusing.

This is not because he is not "patriotic", but he feels that he does not need to be involved in this matter at all! With Li Xiaogong in charge, he can basically ensure that there will be no major corruption incidents, and he can't think of anything else he can do except help improve the "customs" system in the Tang Dynasty.

Moreover, he always felt that Lao Li was tricking him, the current border situation in Datang has not yet reached the point where war is on the verge of breaking out, according to the normal historical development process, in August of the third year of Zhenguan, Li Er will send Li Jing and others to attack the Turks, and it is too early now, you must know that there will be a locust plague in Datang next year!

Li Er's eyes sank suddenly, and his face suddenly couldn't hang up, it stands to reason that he, who is the emperor, personally doing ideological work for his courtiers, has already given a lot of face, but Li Zexuan still looks like he doesn't eat oil and salt, and the dead pig is not afraid of boiling water, which makes him feel annoyed.

"Humph! Still young? Inexperienced? You've done so many things, which one of your young people can do? According to you, should I remove you, the marquis? Throughout the ages, but there is no one who was crowned a marquis at the age of fifteen? Huo Qu's achievements in the war were great back then, and he was also the champion Hou at the age of twenty! ”

Li Er walked down from above, took five steps in front of Li Zexuan, and said with a pause.

When Li Zexuan heard this, he suddenly became a little anxious, he couldn't be an official, but he had to have a title, this thing was the foundation of living in ancient feudal society and not being bullied, "Ahem, Your Majesty is the Ninety-Five Supreme, and he naturally speaks with a word, how can this rewarded title be taken back?" ”

Li Zexuan blushed and smiled awkwardly.

"Hmph~!"

Li Er flicked his sleeves angrily, if it weren't for the emperor's majesty, he really wanted to withdraw Li Zexuan's title.

"Tell me, how can you kid be willing to go to the city to work? As long as the requirements are not excessive, I can consider it at my discretion! ”

From ancient times to the present, all the courtiers begged the emperor to be an official, but now, he, who is the emperor, actually wants to "beg" the courtiers to be an official in turn, which makes Li Er can't help but be angry.

However, in his opinion, if the city and shipping department, which has never existed before, wants to start from scratch, quickly establish, and quickly play its due functions, it is necessary to find a person with a long-term vision, advanced thinking, and a real understanding of maritime trade to manage.

Let Li Xiaogong be the leader of the city's shipping department, overseeing the overall situation, and then let Li Zexuan be the second-in-command of the city's shipping department, responsible for the formulation of specific systems, which is the most perfect staffing in Li Er's opinion.

"Well, Your Majesty, the minister is deeply favored by the country, as long as the court is in need, even if the minister goes to the soup, he will do his part, such things that have not been done to invite merit, the minister will definitely not be able to do it......"

Li Zexuan said "righteously".

Li Er sneered and said: "You kid don't want to be cheap and sell well, and then grind and chirp, don't blame me for being polite!" ”

"Your Majesty, the minister wants a few mines!"

As soon as Li Er's voice fell, Li Zexuan hurriedly shouted.

"Mine? You kid want iron ore? ”

Li Er's face suddenly became serious, for the feudal emperor, iron ore, this is a very sensitive thing.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, Guan Zhong of Qi State put forward the policy of "salt and iron monopoly" in theory, which made Qi State get rich quickly and became the first overlord in the Spring and Autumn Period. However, although Guan Zhong was highly regarded by posterity, in the hundreds of years after his death, few people imitated his strategy of strengthening the country, except for Shang Ying, who was determined to change the law.

It was not until the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that the central government became increasingly empty due to the successive conquests of the Xiongnu, and the wealthy merchants of the people "smelted and boiled salt, and the wealth or accumulated thousands of gold, but did not support the urgent needs of the public and the people of Li were in great difficulty", which discovered the extreme importance of minting money and boiling salt to the state taxation, which gave birth to the "salt and iron monopoly" policy that was implemented intermittently for more than 2,000 years in Chinese history.

The so-called "salt and iron monopoly" means that all the management rights of iron smelting and boiling salt will be transferred to the central government, but it should be noted that the "salt and iron monopoly" is not the "salt and iron official operation", and as far as the iron smelting industry is concerned, it is state-owned and private. The state generally implements a monopoly policy on all mining resources, and as soon as the people discover mineral seedlings, they must be protected and sealed by the state.

Later, the rulers controlled the pricing power of iron and purchased and sold the iron tools produced. Under these premises, the imperial court opened up the iron-smelting workshop industry, allowing private merchants to operate independently, and the value-added part of the businessmen received 70% and the rulers received 30%, which was equivalent to 30% of the income tax.

However, due to the inevitable shortcomings of the bureaucratic system, there are also some serious problems in the salt and iron official camps. In order to accomplish the specified tasks, the government-run iron tools only focused on output, and most of the iron tools produced were large agricultural tools with few applications, which were not suitable for farmers to use at all. Not only that, but there were also problems such as high cost, low quality, no selection, inconvenience in purchasing, forced purchase and forced sale, and forced peasants to serve. What's more, the price of government-run salt and iron is so high that many poor people simply cannot afford it.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the rulers abolished the monopoly policy of salt and iron and implemented a tax system. The Three Kingdoms and the Two Jin Dynasty paid attention to exclusive purchases, and the taxation system was revived during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. From the Sui to the early Tang Dynasty, the special tax on salt and iron was abolished, and the market tax was the same as that of other commodities. After the Tang Anshi Rebellion, financial difficulties and the monopoly of salt and iron began to be implemented again.

Since then, successive dynasties have strengthened the monopoly of salt, and implemented a tax system on iron, which is no longer regarded as the same as salt. The monopoly of salt and iron has made the feudal country obtain considerable benefits, especially salt, which has always been the most important monopoly commodity firmly grasped by the feudal governments of successive dynasties, and its income is an important source of financial resources for successive governments.

"Well, the minister not only wants iron mines, but also a few sulfur mines, I hope Your Majesty will grant permission!"

Seeing that Li Er's expression was suddenly serious, Li Zexuan suddenly had a bad premonition in his heart, but he still said stubbornly.

When he was in the workshop before, he took it for granted that as long as he relied on the memory in his mind, he could own the iron ore after finding it, and then he went back to tell his father, only to know that his too young, too simple Tucson was broken, and today it is rare to have such a good opportunity to talk to Li Er about the conditions, not to talk about it is simply sorry for himself!

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