The salt-producing areas of the entire Great Qi Kingdom spread from the coast of Shandong Road to the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region south of the Yangtze River (the latest chapter of the Rebirth Future Military Road). Among them, the coastal area of the Jianghuai region, that is, the area north of the Yangtze River to Shandong Road, is the most important salt-producing area.

The Ji family was originally born as a salt and iron envoy in the former Song Dynasty, and they also relied on salt to accumulate a huge family and control the salt fields south of the Yangtze River. When Taizu went south, in order to obtain the support of the Jiangnan clan as soon as possible, so as to raise enough funds to establish political power and defend against foreign enemies, he promised to hand over part of the salt works in the Jianghuai area destroyed by the war to the Ji family, thus obtaining a large amount of funds.

Later, after the stabilization of the Great Qi State, an official salt farm was set up to control the expansion of the Ji family. After the elimination of Liu Feng, the king of Lu, he also set up an official salt farm. However, limited to the original agreement, Taizu and Taizong have not formed a monopoly on salt, so a situation of combining government and private enterprises has been formed.

The change appeared after Huang Yuandu's visit to the prime minister (cold-blooded president txt download). Due to the tremendous pressure of the Unified Army, Huang Yuandu wanted to raise funds to form his own military force. As a result, the Ji family, who is a wealthy man in the south of the Yangtze River, became the first object that Huang Yuandu wooed. Just like what Taizu did back then, he promised to hand over the official salt farm to the Ji family, and raised funds to expand the Dark Eagle, establish the Duwei Army, and cultivate his own military power.

After Huang Yuandu's phase stabilized, he gradually closed the government-run salt works and gave them to several big families headed by the Ji family, and the taxes extracted were not high. In this way, Huang Yuandu sold all the salt income that originally belonged to the Great Qi Kingdom. And the Ji family is also providing a steady stream of funds for the operation of Dark Eagle.

Mining, money villages, etc., and other industries operated by Jiangnan clans basically belong to this situation. As a result, the Jiangnan clan controlled the economic lifeline.

Correspondingly, due to the reduction of Daqi's finances, the problem of redundant troops has never been resolved, so that the arrears of wages have become more and more serious, almost to the point of being unsustainable. Therefore, the contradiction between Huang Yuandu and Xiao Hui became more and more intense, and the Dark Eagle and the Imperial City Division also fought constantly. At this time, in order to solve the problem of military spending, Xiao Hui had to acquiesce to the smuggling of goods by the border army.

In the past two years, Xiao Jun and Huang Yuandu have realized that if this continues, the entire Daqi will be unsustainable, so they began to try to cooperate. Huang Yuandu, because he was constrained by the Jiangnan clan, had the intention of recovering the monopoly power of salt and iron. On the other hand, the juniper side also tried to eliminate redundant troops and integrate the forces in the army.

As a result of the cooperation between the two parties, the Metropolitan Guard Army officially became the capital arch guard force, and the return of the Dark Eagle was also put on the agenda, and at the same time, the various ministries were also placed with a lot of manpower.

However, Huang Yuandu's dissatisfaction with the Jiangnan clan has also reached the extreme. The greed of the Jiangnan clan is endless, constantly stretching out their hands to various fields, and through money, trying to completely control Huang Yuandu, so as to control the entire Great Qi Kingdom.

Huang Yuandu's betrayal of the interests of the Great Qi State in exchange for military capital against Xiao Jun is not a normal state after all. Now, Daqi's finances have lost their tax sources due to the existence of the Jiangnan clans, and they are naturally stretched thin by only relying on land revenues to support them. This is also the reason why Huang Yuandu has always supported the trading house, and wants to strengthen the control of the Jiangnan clan by another means.

And on the juniper side, because of the issue of military salaries, the control of the army has been weakened (Miracle Holy King World txt download). After all, a master who has no money will not have loyal support for his subordinates.

Now, there is something wrong with the Ji family, and it is conceivable that in the face of such a large piece of fat, Xiao Jun and Huang Yuandu both want to go under the knife. For Xiao Jun, just expanding the poisonous salt case in the city guards, in addition to eliminating dissidents, more importantly, it will create a more serious situation, adding weight to the snatching of fat.

Song Zheng dealt with the Ji family, originally for the development of the business and trade industry, and at the same time, it was also in line with the overall situation of the government, of course, he did not want to intervene. Now, the little emperor asked about the disposal of the salt farm, and Song Zheng couldn't help but glance at him, only to see the little emperor's eyes blazing, with a hint of greed. So he asked tentatively, "I don't know what the holy will is?" ”

The little emperor stood up, "I think this batch of salt is directly controlled by our trading house, what do you think?" ”

Song Zheng's heart suddenly, sure enough, the little emperor wanted to grasp these salts in his hands, so that he would have a strong capital, which was enough to make his strength rise a lot. Not only that, but you can also use this to increase your right to speak in front of Huang Yuandu and Xiao Hui.

Song Zheng silently weighed it and said, "I'm afraid that Xiangye and Wang Ye won't agree." ”

The little emperor scratched his head, "Then what should I do?" ”

Song Zheng thought about it again and again before he said, "The minister has an idea, which can not only expand the business and trade line, but also satisfy the Xiangye and the prince." ”

"Oh? Is there such a good way to get the best of both worlds? ”

Song Zheng nodded, took two steps forward, picked up a pen and drew a few circles on the paper, respectively writing Yanchang, Daqi, Commerce and Trade Bank, Ji Family, and Jiangnan Everyone. , continued, "First of all, all the salt farms of the Ji family are officially run, which is necessary, by setting up officials to manage salt households, and cut off private salt trading. Other private salt farms should also take the opportunity to purchase and form all the salt into government enterprises. ”

Xiao Ying frowned, "Isn't that all in the hands of the prime minister?" ”

Song Zheng waved his hand, "Otherwise, (the full text of the seventeen prohibitions is read)." Holy Lord, please see, we will destroy the Ji family, and we will uproot the entire Ji family. Part of the wealth accumulated by the Ji family over the years is cash silver, and the other part is land. The Ji family's land accounts for almost half of Jiangnan Road, which is a lot of money. ”

"Yes, I just don't know how many."

"How much, let's not care for now, because this wealth will belong to the prince." Song Zheng wrote the word "Wang" behind the Ji family.

"How's that going to work?" Xiao Hui was shocked.

Song Zheng said with a smile, "Don't worry, this is conditional, that is, to use these ready-made wealth to release the military power with a glass of wine." Use this to solve the redundant soldiers and redundant generals in the army and rectify the forces in the army. In this way, not only can the problem of redundant troops be solved in half, but also reduce the financial pressure of Daqi. The prime minister must also be happy to see it. ”

The little emperor's eyes lit up, "It's really a clever plan." At first, Uncle Huang also had a method of tuntian, but he gave up because of fierce opposition from the court. Now with the Ji family's money, no one has anything to say. ”

Song Zheng pointed to the salt field again, "The salt field is handed over to the official camp, yes, the prime minister must be willing." However, we have the condition, that is, the salt works can be managed by officials, but they must be bought and sold through trading houses. In other words, the imperial court managed production, the trading houses managed sales, and the local salt merchants carried out distribution. ”

The little emperor carefully looked between the three circles of Daqi, the salt farm, and the trading house, and couldn't help but say, "In this case, the trading house can be regarded as choking the neck of the salt tax, I'm afraid the prime minister will disagree?" ”

"What's so hard about that?" Song Zheng said with a smile, "Didn't the saint forget the salt introduction?" ”

"Salt lead? Are you saying that the imperial court controlled the salt and then sold it through the trading house? ”

"No," Song Zheng shook his head, "Salt has always been issued by the imperial court. Our trading house is not an institution of the imperial court, it is purely an operator. Therefore, the trading house cannot undertake the task of offering. My approach is that the imperial court organizes the printing of salt according to the output of the salt works, and the specific distribution is handed over to various places (Dingding Baji txt download). According to the population, the yamen of the Great Qi received the amount of salt from the imperial court. It was then sold to salt merchants, who used the salt to trade in exchange for salt. The merchant and trade will collect the salt, stamp it and hand it over to the officials of the salt works. ”

The little emperor pondered for a while, "That is to say, the money for the people to buy salt first went to the salt merchants, then to the various roads, and finally to the imperial court. And then part of it, and then to the trading house. ”

Most of what the Holy One said was true. However, the transaction fees in the trading house could not be collected directly from the imperial court. To be honest, I can't trust the Prime Minister. Commerce and trade are private, and the court is public, which is prone to arrears and is difficult to deal with. What I mean by this is that when the salt merchant holds the salt and trades in the trading house, he pays a small transaction fee in proportion. In this way, it is possible to ensure that the trading house makes money. ”

"There's one more problem here." The little emperor frowned and said, "What if the salt merchant takes the salt and leads it to the salt field to receive the salt directly?" ”

"It's a trivial matter, and what the officials in charge of the salt works do is to prevent the outflow of smuggled salt. At that time, the trade guild will send permanent candidates to the salt farm, such as the Earthquake Wind Dart Bureau, to help transport salt, and also to supervise the salt farm's private sale of salt. In addition, the one who is most afraid of the outflow of private salt should be Xiangye, and I believe that Dark Eagle will also arrange for people to keep an eye on the salt farm. The salt works received the sealed salt from the trading house and returned it to the imperial court. In order to facilitate the final count. ”

"Well, it's me who is overthinking." The little emperor smiled and nodded.

The corners of Song Zheng's mouth curled, "Holy Lord, do you know what the role of salt induction is?" ”

"Isn't it the monopoly of the imperial court?"

Song Zheng shook his head, "The saint has seen the history of the previous dynasty, and he should know that salt is not only a voucher for salt trading, but more importantly, a silver ticket. ”

"Silver ticket? Oh, I've seen the relevant historical books, it seems that the salt quotation of the Great Song Dynasty can be used to buy things. ”

"Hmm." Song Zheng said with a smile, "Now the money tickets issued by our Daqi are mainly Datong Money Bank, accounting for more than half of the money tickets in circulation in the entire Daqi." This is followed by Kaibao Qianzhuang, mainly on Henan Road and north of the Yangtze River, which accounts for about one-fifth of the amount (New Age of Magic). And then there are the various other small banks. We will distribute salt quotations, and it will definitely have an impact on their money bills. In particular, the silver tickets of Chase Bank were the most affected. In this way, we can weaken the power of the Bao family, another Jiangnan family. ”

The little emperor clapped his hands and smiled, "Wonderful, wonderful!" Let Master Song say this, I can be considered thorough. Dare to love this is a plan to kill birds with one stone! ”

Song Zheng smiled bitterly, "No matter how many birds you kill with one stone, if you can benefit Daqi, you will be satisfied as a courtier." Just ......"

"Just what? Since Master Song has such a good method, why doesn't he seem to be satisfied? ”

"The minister is worried about the amount of salt introduced, if too much, it will cause the salt to depreciate, but it will help the various money banks. Therefore, the minister suggested that the amount of salt should be negotiated with Xiangye. If it is distributed too much, it will be bad for the country and the people. The minister suggested that the amount of salt should not exceed 20% of the salt production. And the price of salt quotation should be set by the imperial court. Maintain a fixed price according to the existing price of salt, so that the people will not suffer. ”

"Makes sense. Master Song, don't worry, I will personally inquire about this matter. The little emperor seemed extremely happy, but he immediately said with some dissatisfaction, "Master Song has come up with such a good way, and it seems that there is not much to be gained from the business and trade shop." ”

What a little emperor who is greedy for money! Song Zheng smiled secretly in his heart, but he still explained solemnly.

"Saint, the purpose of our business and trade is not to only focus on the aspect of salt, but to take the opportunity to expand the semicolon and strengthen the strength. The salt is distributed by the trading house, and the transaction tax and fee obtained, to be honest, I can't see it. As long as we take the opportunity to build a semicolon, the entry and exit of all kinds of goods will be much larger than a single table salt. ”

The little emperor laughed and said, "It's still Master Song who thinks thoughtfully and has a long-term vision, okay, this matter is decided." I will discuss this matter with the prime minister and the imperial uncle early tomorrow morning. ”

"Holy Lord, this is not in a hurry!" Song Zheng hurriedly waved his hand. ~

， . ，