After sending Zhang Zun away, Guan Yi walked around his room with his hands behind his back a few times and asked, "Xiao Qi, what time is it now?" ”

"Qi Qi family master, it's three o'clock in the hour."

It's not yet nine o'clock in the evening, and hopefully it's still too late.

"Prepare the car immediately, I want to enter the palace!"

Liu Chan, who had just come down from a beautiful girl's belly, had not fallen asleep at this time. After all, I am in my fifties, and my body is very tired after engaging in this kind of strenuous exercise, but the more tired I am, the more I need to strengthen my nutrition.

So at this time, Huang Hao tore off a thick layer of silk cloth with his own hands, took out a "strengthening agent" produced in Fuling County, and Mr. Liu Chan swallowed it with deer blood.

"Your Majesty, the Marquis of Hanshou Pavilion and General Guan Yi of the Left are asking to see you outside the palace."

"It's so late, what is he doing here?"

"The slave maid also said the same to the Marquis of Hanshou Pavilion, but the gentleman said that as long as His Majesty did not sleep, please see him."

"This crazy person is going to get me in trouble all day long. Let him wait in the front hall. ”

"Whoa!"

Guan Yi knows very well, as a courtier. There was no prior instruction or agreement from the emperor. It is very bad behavior to ask to see the emperor outside the palace gate in the middle of the night. But as a eunuch, Guan Yi remembered very clearly what days of the month Huang Hao had to be on duty in the palace. If he misses tonight, he will miss it for at least ten days - what he has to do is too big, and without Huang Hao by his side, he may not be sure to convince Liu Chan. And this matter must not leak the rumors, so it can only be entered the palace late at night.

Originally, according to Guan Yi's plan, in the next three years, his main work was to expand production, accumulate a population, and then riot into an army. Finally, in the fourth year, he dealt with Cao Wei's war of annihilation. In this project, he desperately needed the support of Pasir County: Fuling County's population base was too small and the geography was terrible. In just three years, relying on the strength of Fuling County alone, he could not storm the army and could not achieve food self-sufficiency. Brazil County has a large population base, and although the geographical environment is not as vast as CD, it can at least reclaim a lot of wasteland. As long as Fuling County can provide sufficient financial support, coupled with the population purchased by Jingzhou in Nanzhong, Wuximan, and even Eastern Wu, he is sure that he will achieve food self-sufficiency before Cao Wei comes to the country—in the next three years, the profits of Fuxing Society's industry in Fuling County will increase by at least ten times, but it will not be able to achieve food self-sufficiency. And once the war starts, this method of buying food purely from outside the country is full of uncertainty, which Guan Yi cannot tolerate - after all, this is not a game, and you can't read the file and start again.

It's a pity that people are not as good as heaven, after all, Shu Han is not his master. If Liu Chan, Chen Yuan, Huang Hao and others thought that Fuling County was such a remote and small county two and a half years ago, even if Guan Yi messed him up, it would not hurt. Then the appointment of the director of the Brazilian county is much more deliberate - this is the big county!

As a result, Zhang Zun was assigned to Jiangyang County, which had a resource that could be mined in large quantities and exchanged for countless money in this era - salt! But this thing is actually not what Guan Yi has wanted in recent years, what he wants is people! And how many people are on the register of the Jiangyang County Government in only three counties? 20,000 hanging zero. It's less than Fuling County two years ago.

Therefore, he can only make mistakes and find another way to develop Jiangyang County.

To develop Jiangyang County, it is actually very simple, that is, to develop the salt industry on a large scale. Guan Yi plans to maximize the scale of the salt works in Jiangyang County within three years, and strive to support more than 10,000 salt workers.

Due to the scattered nature of the agricultural economy, the discipline and organization of the peasants are relatively poor, and it takes a relatively long time to train the peasants into qualified soldiers, not to mention the costly -- if you recruit a peasant as a soldier, it means that in addition to raising a soldier, you will have to reduce the income of at least 10 mu of land. The workers are different, the discipline and organization of the workers are better - otherwise they will not be able to work in an orderly manner. On the one hand, the training of a worker into a soldier is relatively short, and on the other hand, the cost is relatively small: in large-scale industrial factories, workers are gathered together. Giving birth during the day, you can train intensively at night or on public holidays. In this way, Guan Yi can completely hide his troops from the people, and by the fourth year, these more than 10,000 industrial workers can be directly pulled into the battlefield.

But to achieve such a goal, it is necessary to effectively control all the salt farms in Jiangyang County in the future. And this is in conflict with the current salt policy of Shu Han.

China's salt administration has changed a lot over the years, but before the emergence of the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were no more than three in general.

One is the total monopoly system: the state controls all salt works, and the state is responsible for production, transportation, and sales. The advantage of this system is that the state can control the whole process, set the price of salt extremely high, and do its best to loot the copper plates of the common people. The disadvantages are inefficiency, corruption, and the creation of private salt.

One is the on-the-spot taxation system: the state sends officials to the major salt works. The production of the salt works was the responsibility of private individuals, and after the salt was produced, the salt tax was levied by state officials in the salt works. The rest of the countries that transport and sell it don't care. The advantage of this is that the production is efficient, and the illegal salt is basically eliminated. The disadvantage is that the state gets relatively little.

The third is the on-site monopoly system. The production of the salt works was privately owned, and after the salt was produced, it was sold to the state at a fixed price. Then the salt merchant went to the salt factory to buy from the state, and after the purchase, the salt merchant was responsible for transportation and sales. The advantage of this is that the country can steadily earn the price difference, and the interests are guaranteed. Manufacturers and distributors are also more motivated.

And what kind of salt policy is Shu Han? I'm embarrassed, it's Guan Yi's least favorite "all-monopoly system" -- production, transportation, and sales are all under the full control of the state, and private individuals are not allowed to meddle -- not only Shu Han, Cao Wei, and Eastern Wu, all of them are like this -- there is no way, the country has been in a state of war for a long time, and needs more money to support the standing army.

"Chen Guan Yi greets His Majesty. Harassing Your Majesty in the middle of the night, capital crime, capital crime! ”

"Hmph, General Zuo, you also know that you disturbed Your Majesty. Although the capital crime is not enough, if you don't tell a reason, don't say Your Majesty, our family can't spare you! ”

Covertly threw a grateful look at Huang Hao, Guan Yi bowed down: "Your Majesty, there is a law that can make Jiangyang County rule within three years and make a profit of one billion a year!" ”

In the previous sentence "Jiangyang County has been ruled for three years", Liu Chan and Huang Hao just looked at each other and smiled: I know that you, the leader of the Yuancong faction, will not take care of your little brother. But the latter sentence "one billion profits per year" made Liu Chan and Huang Hao unable to calm down.

What is the concept of a billion dollars a year? According to the current price of rice in Shu Han, the retail price of polished rice that has been shelled in one stone is one hundred and fifty yuan. One billion dollars can buy 6.6 million stone grain - enough for all the people in Shu Han to eat more than half a year!

Liu Chan's eyes rolled, and Huang Hao immediately got up and said to the few little eunuchs in the room: "Get out of here for our family, keep an eye on the door, if a word that General Zuo said leaks out tonight, you and your family will not live!" ”

After retreating left and right, Liu Chan fiercely stood up to Guan Yi and said: "Carefully speaking, if you dare to deceive me, don't blame me for not remembering the old feelings!" ”

"Such a big thing, how dare you deceive Your Majesty. Your Majesty, there is a place in this Jiangyang County where there is an almost endless amount of brine underground......"

……

"Even if what you say is true, but the national salt administration has its own laws, how can you want me to promise you to let this salt farm be in charge of the Fuxing Society?"

Guan Yi obviously felt that when he proposed that after Jiangyang County mined the salt works in the future, its production and sales rights would be handed over to the Fuxing Society, Liu Chan's eyes flashed with murderous intent.

"Your Majesty, there are three reasons for the minister, one of them, if the salt field in Jiangyang County is really thoroughly mined, the amount of salt produced is absolutely astronomical, with such a large output, who can Your Majesty rest assured to hand it over?"

Liu Chan hadn't answered yet, and Huang Hao had already opened his mouth: "Your Majesty, what General Zuo said makes sense." Since the 16th year of Yanxi, the output of 39 of the country's 41 salt farms has been declining every year. However, the private residences and estates of all the saltworks officials are getting bigger and bigger. The state's salt income has dropped from 400 million yuan a year before Yanxi to 130 million yuan last year. ”

It can be said that the total monopoly is destined to breed a great deal of corruption. And what year is the sixteenth year of Yanxi? Fei Yi was assassinated. Lacking the high pressure of prestigious officials, the disadvantages of this system were suddenly infinitely large - the current Basi County Taishou Liu Gan is one of the main salt officials in Shu Han, and in the evaluation of later generations, it is very clear that this is a big corrupt official.

And the sorrow of Shu Han also lies in the fact that for the local wealthy families in Yizhou, they do not like the Shu Han regime very, very much. Therefore, in Shuhan, a country where the grassroots level seriously resisted the central government, the monopoly system also gave birth to a large number of illicit salt dealers.

"Say the second reason."

"Ah, Your Majesty. If the state can reform the salt law and implement a monopoly system on the spot. The country's income is stable, and it will not lose too much because of the hands of the officials. Moreover, the officials and the military in charge of transportation and sales can be laid off, and a lot of expenses can be reduced. What's more, the people will not suffer from salt shortages. This is great good governance. If Your Majesty does this, then the people will be grateful to Your Majesty. ”

The people of Shu Han are bitter. The government controls the production, transportation, and sales of salt throughout the process, and sets the price to the sky - during the Taiping period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the price of salt was 400 yuan per stone, and what is the price of salt in Shu Han now? Twelve hundred dollars! Such an outrageous price led to a general shortage of salt among the people of Shu and Han - so the envoys of Eastern Wu said that "the people have a dish" in Shu and Han.

"Hmph, I'm afraid the people will say that this is Zhuge Siyuan's proposal again. What about the third reason? ”

"Your Majesty, the original intention of the establishment of the Fuxing Society was to revive the Great Han. Therefore, the Renaissance Society is not only for us descendants, but also for His Majesty. Now, on behalf of the Fuxing Society, the minister invited His Majesty to take a stake in the revival of the salt industry, this share, Your Majesty is seventy percent, the middle permanent servant is one percent, and the ministers account for a total of two percent, okay? ”