Everyone is familiar with salt, and if you don't put salt in the dish during meals, even the delicacies of the mountains and seas are like chewing wax. Therefore, the ancients called salt the ancestor www.biquge.info of food and cuisine and the ancestor of all kinds of flavors. And salt is not only an important condiment, but also an indispensable substance to maintain the normal development of the human body. Under the natural economy, people are mostly self-sufficient in their living needs, and only salt is produced in a specific area. To obtain salt, a relatively scarce resource, it is necessary to rely on external trade supplies.

It is precisely in this way that as a very important resource, whoever controls salt also holds the financial resources of ancient society. In childhood, due to the constraints of the natural environment, the availability of salt is very limited, so salt has become an important factor affecting people's dispersion. When mankind entered the class society, the grasp and control of salt production areas and salt domination became an important factor in the establishment of political hegemony and the rise and fall of dynasties. At that time, table salt was far more important than oil today. As a result, salt was equivalent to today's oil in ancient times, and it was the 'hard currency' at that time.

In ancient times, wars over salt were common. It was precisely because the Yellow Emperor defeated Emperor Yan and Chiyou successively, and occupied and controlled Yanchi, that his tribe became stronger and stronger, and finally became the ancestor of China. The capitals built by the Yellow Emperor, Yao, Shun, and Yu are all near Yanchi, which is obviously related to the defense of Yanchi. There have been countless wars in the world because of salt, and even in modern society, due to the improvement of scientific and technological means, the acquisition of salt has become commonplace, and there may not be wars due to salt, but it is still an indispensable thing in our lives, and no one dares to imagine what the world will be like if human beings lose salt.

Because of the scarcity and necessity of salt, money can be generated by flow, and in history, whoever controls salt has wealth and power. The revenue of salt profits, such as Guan Zhong, Sang Hongyang, Fifth Qi, Liu Yan, etc., implemented the monopoly of salt, or such as the Qin Dynasty, the early Eastern Han Dynasty, the early Tang Dynasty, etc., and the implementation of salt tax, all of which solved the financial problem. According to Zhao Yu, at the beginning of Liu Yan's reform in the Tang Dynasty, the annual income of Yanli was only 400,000, but by the end of the calendar, it had soared to more than 600,000. Therefore, there is a saying that "the world is endowed, and salt is half of it".

During the Northern Song Dynasty, Yanli accounted for more than one-third of the national finance, and in the Southern Song Dynasty, it accounted for nearly one-half. The Yuan Dynasty was even worse, according to the "History of the Yuan Dynasty", "the cost of the country, the salt tax is heavy", "the state funds, salt profit is eight out of ten". In the Ming Dynasty, the country's wealth also reached half of the salt profit, and the annual income reached 4 million. In the Qing Dynasty, the income from salt also exceeded the income from land and was the main source of fiscal revenue. Therefore, salt has been regarded as an important source of revenue for the national treasury by successive governments, even in modern society, so salt is regarded as the great treasure of the country and the foundation of the country......

"Your Majesty, the population of Qiongzhou is only a few hundred thousand, and although the salt tax is heavy, the income is still limited, and it is difficult to support financial expenditures. After listening to His Majesty's emergency solution to the financial crisis is to rely on salt, Lu Xiufu shook his head and smiled bitterly, thinking that this strategy was inappropriate.

Although salt is produced by private individuals, the purchase and sale prices are completely controlled by the government, and the difference in interest rate is the profit of the government. And the huge profits generated by the salt tax are based on the necessity and huge demand for salt. However, Qiongzhou's population is sparse and the demand is bound to be small, and unless the tax amount is increased, the fiscal revenue obtained will be like chicken ribs, and it will not be able to solve the current crisis at all.

"Don't worry, I didn't say that salt is only marketed in Qiongzhou!" Zhao Yu waved his hand.

"Oh, is Your Majesty going to sell salt to the fallen lands?" Lu Xiufu felt that His Majesty's thoughts were beyond bounds, and frowned.

"Not bad!"

"Your Majesty, how is this possible?" Unexpectedly, Zhao Yu actually nodded yes, which made everyone stunned, the Mongols regarded the salt tax as fundamental, how could they allow them to get involved in it, even Ni Liang didn't believe what His Majesty said.

"Hehe, how is it impossible!" Zhao Hao smiled and said, "The salt-producing places in the world today mainly include pond salt in Shanxi, well salt in Sichuan and sea salt in coastal areas, and sea salt accounts for more than half, and more than two-thirds of the salt farms in the southeast are used. ”

"Your Majesty is right." Lu Xiufu nodded and said, "There are many salt farms in Fujian and Guangnan along the coast, and the salt produced along the way is more than that produced in Qiongzhou in a few years, even if we can sell it everywhere, the harvest is still limited!" ”

"As far as I know from my visits to the Yashan area, due to the continuous wars in recent years, many coastal salt farms along the Guangnan Road and Fujian Road have been damaged, and the output has been greatly reduced, or even abandoned, which is not as good as before." Zhao Yu said, "The sea salt is mainly obtained by boiling salt, and it is sold to the official for only seven wen per catty, but the Tatar monopoly is around 100 wen, and the price is higher when sold inland, and the profit is more than ten times." ”

"Then what does Your Majesty mean? Is it to sell cheaply to increase sales and make profits? Lu Xiufu thought about it and said.

"Small profits but quick turnover, this is one of them." Zhao Yu nodded and said, "Second, we want to prevent the salt works along the coast from re-producing, so that Tartar has no salt to sell, and third, we must vigorously prepare for the construction of salt farms, improve salt production methods, and increase production." In this way, we can increase taxes and prevent the Tartars from receiving huge revenues from salt, thereby weakening their economic power. ”

"Your Majesty, how can we stop the resumption of production in the enemy's salt farms?" Liu Dingsun thought about what His Majesty said, but it was a matter of killing two birds with one stone, but the salt works were all within the Tartars' sphere of influence, so how could they stop it.

"What's so difficult about this, we just need to send the water army to harass in turn, destroy its salt farms, and put away the salt people, anyway, we can't use it at the moment." Zhao Yu spread out his hands and said.

"What if the Tartars send out a navy to protect the salt works?" Liu Dingsun didn't expect His Majesty's method to be so simple and rude, and he was silent for a moment.

"Hehe, Chen Tongzhi, what do you tell Master Liu to do?" Zhao Yu stretched out his finger and nodded at Chen Renweng and smiled.

"If they dare to beat him, we will not be able to find him!" Chen Renweng patted his chest and said proudly.

"Well said, that's it, if you dare to come, we will beat him, and beat them until they see my Great Song Battle Banner and stay away!" Zhao Yu applauded.

"Your Majesty's intention is to use the navy to destroy the salt works, sell illicit salt, and by the way, strike at the enemy's navy, so that we can control the coastal waterways at the same time, and then develop commerce and trade, and profit from it, right?" Lu Xiufu slowly figured out His Majesty's arrangement, not only secretly sighed that the little emperor was really a master of chess as Liu Huang said, and he could see eight moves in one step.

"Exactly, we call it war to feed war, and only then can the country become richer the more we fight!" Zhao Hao said with a smile...... (To be continued.) )