Gao pragmatically explained terms such as "gross national product", "productivity", "production efficiency", "production loss rate", "exchange rate" and so on, and felt as if he had returned to the era of facing exams after training economics courses in party schools. Fortunately, Gao Gong is indeed a practical scholar, a talented person in the world, and has been in the center for many years, and has an extraordinary foundation for financial management - although most of them are outdated concepts, but it is really not slow to accept new concepts, and finally understand a bunch of nouns put forward by Gao Pragmatic.

Then Gao pragmatic changed his words and mentioned the biggest difference between the financial systems of the Song and Ming dynasties: "So, Sanbo, you see, the gap between the industrial and commercial tax of the Song Dynasty and the industrial and commercial tax of my Ming Dynasty is so big!" The total tax revenue of the Northern Song Dynasty in the 10th year of Xining was 70.7 million yuan, of which the two taxes on agriculture were 21.62 million yuan, accounting for about 30 percent, and the industrial and commercial tax was 49.11 million yuan, accounting for about 70 percent. Even if we don't take into account the difference between the exchange rate of silver and money between the two dynasties, and we don't calculate the difference in productivity between the two dynasties, we can see the big problem from this ratio alone. It's chilling in comparison! Uncle San, you are a practical scholar, a lot of data is much clearer than your nephew, your nephew doesn't ask anything else, just ask: I Daming actually collects the salt and tea taxes that go to the Hubu treasury every year, which is how many times less than that of the Tang and Song Dynasty? ”

Gao Gong kept his face calm and did not speak, but his snort became heavier and heavier, and after a while, he suddenly stood up and paced back and forth quickly, and his annoyance was overflowing.

Gao Pragmatic didn't ask questions, nor did he speak, just drank tea silently. During this time, the internal government steward looked at the door of the study, Gao pragmatic glanced at the tea tray in his hand, shook his head slightly, and gently waved his hand at him. The old man in charge was Gao Gong, and after glancing at his master, he knew that he would be scolded when he went in now, so he nodded gratefully at Gao Shipra, and quietly retreated.

I don't know how long it took, anyway, Gao Pragmatic's tea had already been drunk, and then I heard Gao Gong suddenly speak: "You have been thinking about these things for a long time, right?" ”

Gao Pragmatic found that his third uncle's voice was suddenly much hoarse, and when he looked up, he found that Gao Gong's brows were deeply furrowed, and his expression was so solemn that he seemed to be able to drip water at any time.

Gao Cheng sighed, and Gao Gong's equally solemn expression was extremely incommensurate with his childish countenance: "Do you remember? Ever since you went back to Xinzheng last time and began to supervise your nephew's studies, your nephew has often pestered you to ask you some financial questions and statistics, among which you once mentioned that the Hubu Treasury received 3,124,467 taels of silver in a certain year. However, do you know that before this, my nephew had heard my mother accidentally mention that the Puzhou Zhang family had a gross profit income of about four million taels of silver a year......

"Bang!"

Gao Gong slammed his fist on his desk, and said hatefully: "These salt dogs...... Salt merchant! Damage to the public and private, as it is! Gao Gong originally wanted to scold the "salt dog", but when he thought that Gao Shishi's mother was from the Puzhou Zhang family, a big salt merchant family, he forcibly swallowed back half of the word "dog".

"Third uncle, my nephew didn't speak for my uncle's family, but my nephew still had to speak...... You're scolding the wrong person. ”

"Huh?" Gao Gong turned his head abruptly and stared at Gao Pragmatic: "I still scolded the wrong person?" As you said yourself, I am a prime minister in the Ming Dynasty, and the annual income of a prime minister is only three million taels, and the annual income of a salt merchant is more than that of the imperial court! How ridiculous! ”

Facing Gao Gong on the verge of rage, even the important ministers of the court had to retreat, but Gao Pragmatic was different, he still calmly looked at the third uncle's eyes that were slightly red because of anger, and said without humility or arrogance: "The gross profit of the salt merchant is naturally high, but my nephew has a few questions to ask. ”

Gao Gong gritted his teeth, and a word coldly popped out from between his teeth: "Say!" ”

"The first question is: the salt merchant himself has no official position, even if my eldest uncle Feng Pan Gong (Zhang Siwei is called Feng Pan), he himself has never been in charge of the salt farm since he was promoted, but has been handed over to his brother to take care of, and after he has been admitted to the Jinshi examination, until he was promoted by you, the official position of the national dynasty has nothing to do with the affairs of the salt farm, and some of the other salt merchants' families are also roughly the same, or even if there is no one in the family who is an official at all, so how can we talk about the loss of public and private interests?"

Gao Gong did not answer.

"The second question: Where did the salt tax system of the national dynasty come from, you know a hundred times better than your nephew, is it because the salt merchants themselves set it up? In the final analysis, the salt merchants were only forced to accept that they were the practitioners of the salt tax system of the dynasty, not the makers of the system, and even if the distribution of profits was unreasonable, did the responsibility still run to them? To put it bluntly, they just had a good vision of their ancestors and discovered business opportunities under the salt tax system of the national dynasty, and that's it. ”

The high-arched snort was heavier, but still did not answer.

Gao Pragmatic didn't care, but stretched out three fingers and continued: "Third, you only see that the gross profit of the salt merchants is quite high, but you don't know how much the salt merchants have invested. ”

Before the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the regulations of the Ming Dynasty for salt merchants were that salt merchants transported grain to the border pass, exchanged it for salt at the border pass, and then came back to exchange it for salt and sell it. Salt is a consumable, and salt merchants have to invest huge sums of money to ensure the procurement and transportation of grain. Therefore, although the business engaged in by salt merchants is very profitable, the risks are also huge, and no matter who transports grain to the border gates, they can get salt introduction, so the pressure of competition is also great.

However, during the period of Ming Xiaozong, a salt introduction reform was carried out, and since then the salt introduction is no longer a one-time consumption, but has become hereditary family heirloom, as long as the hereditary salt introduction can be used to receive salt, and there is no need to work hard to raise grain to go to the border. The impact of this on the country is naturally "the border reserves are getting worse". After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the combat effectiveness of the border army declined, which can be regarded as one of the reasons.

"Huh? Input? Sure enough, Gao Gong's face was full of ridicule, and he sneered: "I have only heard that the salt merchant is very rich in extravagance, and I have heard that a certain salt merchant is very rich in dinner, and his high-class table, just one dish of mutton, will use 500 sheep, three hundred for the medium table, and one hundred for the inferior table." Why so many? Not because they invited thousands of people to eat, but when they ate, they cut only a small piece of meat from the mouth of each sheep and threw away the rest, because 'the beauty of the sheep is all in this, and everything else is not enough'. What do you mean by input? ”

Gao Pragmatic had sent Gao Xiaozhuang to investigate the price before, and he happened to know the price of mutton and mutton fat, and knew that if Gao Gong's words were true, it would of course be an amazing luxury, but his face remained unchanged: "My nephew doesn't know if there is such a thing, but even if there is such a thing...... Third uncle, in your wisdom, can't you see why they are acting like this? Do they behave like this all the time? ”

It is nothing more than to show off their financial resources in front of certain officials, and then promise to "repay with all their hearts" in order to ensure that they possess salt for a long time and monopolize this daily profit-making business for a long time.

Gao Gong is naturally easy to understand, but with his status, when he thinks of this, the most concerned thing is no longer the extravagance of the salt merchants, but the chronic disease of collusion between officials and businessmen. And the so-called "investment" of salt merchants is self-evident.

Gao Ge Lao's complexion immediately became worse by three points.