Wang Ningan didn't expect that Sima Guang, who had just emerged, would have such a disgraceful beginning, it seemed that he had studied a belly of intrigues and tricks, and his calculations were unparalleled, and he was not unobstructed in the world, and he was rampant, at least he was fighting and employing people, Sima Guang was an idiot! I'm afraid it's not even as good as my own brother. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Thinking of this, Wang Ningan's mood was much better, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously curved upward.

Unfortunately, just in the eyes of Zhao Zhen, the emperor coughed, "Wang Qing!" ”

"Ah, the minister is here."

"Do you have an idea?"

Wang Ningan hesitated for a moment and said with a smile: "I don't dare to say that there is, but the minister can at least save the northwest from the disaster temporarily." ”

"Oh? What is Wang Qing's plan? ”

Wang Ningan smiled and spit out a word, "Salt!" ”

Zhao Zhen hadn't understood it yet, but Wen Yanbo figured it out instantly.

"Lord Wang, if the old man guessed correctly, are you going to put the salt of Western Xia in?"

Seeing Wang Ning'an's acquiescence, Wen Yanbo immediately became furious, "Lord Wang, you are Hu Lai!" The ambition of the wolf son of Western Xia is always spying on the territory of my Great Song Dynasty, how can he do business with Western Xia? No, absolutely not! ”

didn't wait for Wang Ning'an to refute it, but Zhao Zhen didn't like to listen to it, "Xianggong Wen, a clear example is in front of you, the imperial court can take back Youzhou, it is also due to trade with Liao, and the division and disintegration of Liao, so it succeeded in one fell swoop." If we can take the Western Xia in the same way, I am also optimistic about it. ”

Sure enough, Zhao Zhen has been taken astray.

Wen Yanbo is not a pedantic person, and when he saw that the emperor supported Wang Ning'an, he immediately changed his position.

"Your Majesty, the old minister is worried that trading with the Western Xia will boost their arrogance and enhance their strength, if Lord Wang has a magic method, the old minister will naturally support it!"

It's really shameless to be a big man, and it's really fast!

Wang Ningan was speechless, if he was given a choice and put a poisonous snake and Wen Yanbo together, he would definitely kill Wen Yanbo first! Then let the snake bite him a few times, don't let him come back to life!

"Your Majesty, the minister doesn't know much about the situation in Western Xia, but he just has a general idea, how to implement it, and he needs to be consulted by Xianggong Wen."

Zhao Zhen nodded, "Okay, let's get an idea together!" ”

Wang Ningan first asked Wen Yanbo, when Western Xia moved troops, what idea did they have to fight, and how much strength did they have?

Wen Yanbo has been in Luoyang for many years, but he has not eaten rice, and he knows the situation in Western Xia very well.

If you want to say that the appetite of Western Xia, the bigger the better, but they are in the land of four battles, front and back, left and right, all of them are strong enemies, and there is not much room for maneuver.

Especially after Li Yuanhao's death, the lord Shaoguo was suspicious, the minister of state did not hide that Pang was a traitor and greedy, Yuanhao's old ministers were not convinced, and the royal family did not like him.

All in all, the number of troops that can be used by the unconcealed Pang is only 50,000 or 60,000, and at most it will not exceed 100,000.

Even if the Western Xia wanted to annex the northwest of the Great Song Dynasty, it was still unable to catch it.

Wen Yanbo judged that they should want to take the opportunity to get some benefits, or land, or New Year's coins.

In the past, the Great Song Dynasty didn't have to care, after all, everyone had been fighting for so many years and knew the roots, but the problem was that the Zhejia Army and the Seed Family Army were defeated one after another, and the Northwest Army had no backbone.

I can't find a fierce general who can fight with Western Xia, and there is no strong soldier who can fight.

According to Wen Yanbo's idea, he hoped to mobilize the Hebei Army to come, and with the power of defeating the Liao State, he would definitely be able to defeat the Western Xia.

It's just that although the idea is good, the Hebei Army can't pull out at all, not to mention that the Liao soldiers are still going south to fight the grass valley, just the newly incorporated Youzhou, with a population of several million, if there is not enough troops to suppress it, there will be a big mess.

For at least three years, the Hebei Army will not be able to move.

Zhao Zhen knew this very well, so he didn't adopt Wen Yanbo's opinion, but brought Wang Ningan to see what he had in mind.

"Your Majesty, Xianggong Wen, the current situation is obvious, the Great Song Dynasty is absolutely unable to fight, not only the troops are insufficient, but there are also shortages in military salaries, grain and grass, livestock, ordnance, and all aspects. Moreover, in order to recover Youzhou, tens of millions of bonds were also issued, and the imperial court could no longer continue to issue bonds at this time. Of course, the Western Xia is just taking advantage of the fire to rob, not to fight to the death with the Great Song Dynasty, since both sides have not made up their minds, then there is room for maneuver. ”

After analyzing the situation clearly, Wen Yanbo also calmed down and pondered: "Lord Wang, according to the current situation, it seems feasible to lure Western Xia to take the bait with salt and profit and solve the crisis in the northwest. ”

After the establishment of the Western Xia Dynasty, he was in a battle with the Great Song Dynasty.

The trade sanctions imposed by the Great Song Dynasty on the Western Xia were far stricter than those of the Liao State, and the products of the Western Xia were also very limited, except for cattle and sheep, war horses, and green salt, there was nothing else.

They lack almost everything, not even pots and pans.

In the past, the main source of wealth in Western Xia was green salt.

Xixia steals from the northwest and has a salt pond with an amazing output, just go to the salt pond and move a piece, which is dozens of catties of salt! The green salt of Western Xia has a low price and good quality, and is very popular with the people of the Great Song Dynasty.

Taking the northwest as an example, the price of official salt is about 24 wen per catty, and the cheapest green salt shipped from Western Xia is only 10 wen, which is only equivalent to 40% of the official salt price.

The poorer the people, the more they have to work all day long, sweat like water, a pot of soup to throw a handful of salt, in order to eat the taste, a ding to eat 10 catties of salt a year, a person saves 140 Wen, a family can save consistent money, in the barren northwest, this is not a small amount.

According to estimates, some people say that 30 percent of the people in the northwest eat smuggled green salt, and the highest is even estimated to be more than 70 percent.

Salt alone provided hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of profits to Western Xia.

The Western Xia was founded late, and resolutely opposed the sinicization, the common people were very bitter, but the upper-class nobles were crazy about everything in the Great Song Dynasty, which was very similar to the Liao State, and even more so.

Take the Empress Dowager of Western Xia Wuzang as an example, she followed Wu Zetian everywhere, lived in the best palace, wore the most luxurious clothes, ate the most expensive food, and raised several male pets around her...... The rebellion of the Western Xia Palace is beyond imagination!

The income of green salt just satisfies the luxury enjoyment of these nobles, and it is their cash cow.

If the cash cow can drop more money, the nobles must be reluctant to destroy the treasure tree...... The only thing that makes people unhappy is that they have reaped more benefits for Xixia, don't expect them to be grateful to Dade, these things took the money, armed themselves, turned around, and attacked the Great Song Dynasty.

It is indeed not an easy choice of how to choose.

"It is true that the opening of green salt will allow Xixia to get a little immediate benefit, but what is really earned is still the Great Song Dynasty!" Wang Ningan said confidently.

Zhao Zhen knew that this kid was profound, so he said with a calm face: "Wang Qing, Xianggong Wen is not an outsider, you just have to say, don't swallow it." ”

Wen Yanbo hurriedly echoed his head, looking very happy, His Majesty said, I am not an outsider, it seems that in Your Majesty's heart, I have not only recovered my holy family, but also been different.

Wen Yanbo became more and more pleased, and even his chest straightened up.

It's just that when Wang Ningan finished speaking, Wen Yanbo's face turned green, and he would rather not be a cronie of the Son of Heaven.

Wang Ningan, you're a madman!

Is there anything else in the world that you don't dare to do?

That's right, Wang Ningan encountered the most fatal thing, that is, the price of salt!

This is no longer a question of whether the ancestral system is ancestral or not, but a thousand-year-old national policy!

Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the salt and iron monopoly, the salt tax has been regarded as a ban in all dynasties, and the people dare to traffic in illicit salt, and they will all be killed without forgiveness, and they have never been polite.

Wang Ningan hoped that Zhao Zhen could change the salt policy, and he also told a set of self-justifying truths.

In the final analysis, the salt law of the Great Song Dynasty was inappropriate, and the common people could not eat high-quality and inexpensive salt!

If the green salt of Western Xia is opened, the price of salt in the Great Song Dynasty will definitely fall.

Wang Ning'an has calculated that the cost of drying salt in seawater is not even a penny, and boiling salt in brine is at most 2 wen per catty, while the pool salt in the northwest is directly chiseled from the lake, which is cheaper than sea salt.

Even if you count the freight, 5 yuan per pound is already a lot of money.

But under the monopoly of the imperial court, the price of salt in Tokyo has reached more than 50 wen, and there are more than 20 wen in the border land, which is really ridiculously expensive!

Poor families, all the little money they have saved all year round, are used to buy salt to eat, and other things, not even a pair of shoes or a piece of clothing, the peasants' spending power is almost zero.

In the past, the imperial court treated the salt law as it became worse and worse, the price of salt rose day by day, but the quality of salt became worse and worse, and the people complained.

"Your Majesty, since the monopoly doesn't work, why don't you think about other ideas, such as expanding the supply ......" Wang Ningan said: "If a large influx of green salt in Western Xia will inevitably lower the price of salt, and the original monopoly system will not be maintained, and it will naturally collapse and cease to exist." ”

Wen Yanbo was not convinced, and argued: "Wang Xianggong, according to your method, don't my people in the Great Song Dynasty need to eat salt?" ”

"Don't be impatient!"

Wang Ningan said with a smile: "If the old doesn't go, the new doesn't come, this salt is really not a great thing, and you don't have to worry about it not being enough." The seaside of Luanzhou is full of salt-drying tidal flats, not to mention maintaining the salt consumption of the people of the Great Song Dynasty, even if the population is ten times more than enough. ”

"Relying on green salt, eliminate the old salt merchants, and then promote the reform of the salt law, reduce the price of salt, and improve the quality. After all, smuggling in Western Xia is not the right way, when the price of salt in our Great Song Dynasty is low enough, they will not make a profit from smuggling, on the contrary, maybe we can smuggle salt to Western Xia to make a profit! ”

"Now the opening of the green salt of Western Xia is to one day, completely eliminate the green salt, and if the green salt is defeated, it will cut off a financial route in the Western Xia and break their arms. Your Majesty, Minister Wen, how is this plan? ”

……

After listening to Wang Ning'an's words, Zhao Zhen and Wen Yanbo both felt bad, in order to deal with Western Xia, they changed the thousand-year-old national policy, and the loss was too great!

Wen Yanbo noticed Luanzhou, his eyes lit up, sure enough, Wang Ningan is not an honest person, this kid is fighting for his own interests!

Zhao Zhen was concerned about another matter, "Wang Qing, what you said may have an effect, but at present, the imperial court collects 18 million salt taxes every year, and it is all visible money!" According to your method, without the salt tax, what should the imperial court do? ”

Money! Money! Money!

Zhao Zhen was very short of money, he needed money to deal with the Liao State, money to build the Great Wall, money to repair the capital, and money to deal with Western Xia!!

The whole world is stretching out their hands to ask Zhao Zhen for money, Wang Ningan, this kid actually instigated Zhao Zhen to give up the salt tax, it's crazy!

"In fact, the minister feels that giving up the salt tax may not necessarily reduce the imperial court's revenue, and may increase it." Wang Ningan saw that Zhao Zhen didn't believe it, so he had to pack the ticket, "The minister is completely sure!" ”