There is no tariff on grain imports, which is a system that Chen Han has implemented for many years; Because at the beginning, there was a shortage of food in the country, and the high price of food in both the north and the south made people grin. Therefore, while vigorously restoring the agricultural production in China that had withered due to the war, Chen Ming also gave the best preferential treatment to grain imports. In this regard, only cotton and copper ore are two types of products that are in short supply in China.

The implementation of this policy has caused Siam and Annam to transport large quantities of grain to China every year, which is tens of millions of stone of grain, and even the Japanese daimyo are pouring grain to China to exchange money.

Siam has made a fortune as a result, and has become one of the few countries in the world today that is still at a higher level after fully opening trade with China, and it is not too comfortable to live a small life. The country's rice cultivation area is also increasing. However, after the violent impact of foreign grain, China's domestic grain prices have not only returned to normal nationwide, but also continued to fall after returning to the normal prices of previous years.

This largely violated the interests of the Chen Han elites.

Don't forget, each of them in high positions owns a large number of military fields, and even if these acres have now become shares of military-civilian cooperative companies in different provinces, then they have become shareholders of the most powerful and influential agricultural companies in this era.

Many of today's military and civilian joint-stock companies are still engaged in traditional agricultural production, at most they are running their own grain stores and oil mills, and they have not yet shaken off the shackles of traditional agriculture. Those military and civilian joint-stock companies that have really turned to the financial investment industry and invested their annual profits in the stock and venture capital industries, or in the retail and real estate industries, account for only a very small part of the number of military and civilian joint-stock companies in the country. This also includes those who are sinking in the stock market and going bankrupt in real estate.

Therefore, almost all of Chen Han's high-level nobles and nobles have great interests related to agriculture.

Seeing that domestic food prices continue to fall because of foreign food, what are the solutions they have come up with? That is, under the banner of protecting the interests of local farmers, let the imperial court cancel the preferential policy on foreign grain imports.

It's funny to say, Japan, as one of the grain exporters that export rice to China, exports rice to China on the one hand, and imports coarse grains such as potatoes and sweet potatoes from China on the other hand.

"Your Majesty. In recent years, the amount of grain flowing into Middle-earth from the open sea has been increasing day by day, exceeding 25 million stone last year, and it is very likely that the share will reach 30 million stone this year. Chen Cong said.

Although he has selfish intentions in this discussion, there is no lack of public interest. He felt that food really couldn't be more preferential.

"Affected by the impact of overseas grain, domestic grain prices have continued to fall, and hundreds of millions of farmers across the country have received bumper harvests, but they have not been able to reap real profits."

"Your Majesty, the grain is cheap and hurts the peasants."

As anyone knows, the profit that farmers make from selling their grain depends on two factors: production and food prices.

The profit that the farmer can get is the product of the two; However, these two variables are not independent, but interrelated, and their correlation is determined by a line of demand for food to society, and the two are in opposition. Just as when the sun rises in the east, it will inevitably set in the west.

The higher the price of food, the less food is needed. And when food prices fall, people's demand for food increases, but not by much. It's also about the yield.

When there is a bumper harvest, the price of food will really be reduced; If the harvest fails, food prices will rise sharply.

Many farmers are not very sensitive to changes in this demand line, which makes the grain demand line inelastic and increases the risk of grain cheapness hurting farmers. Even in the 21st century, this phenomenon is widespread. Where do ordinary people have such a sensitive sense of smell?

Chen Ming's cousin and uncle were originally in Xinjiang, and the situation was good in the first few years. His cousin's uncle also contracted more and more land, and the land became bigger and bigger. But in a few years of good years, what is planted is worthless, and I will stop doing it after two or three years.

This is true of farmers in the information age, and even more so in today's era.

"The benefits of cultivated land are getting weaker and weaker, and if it becomes a common practice, it may be difficult to organize people to move out in the future."

Chen Cong was afraid that the simple 'grain cheapness hurting the peasants' would not impress Chen Ming, so he hung up the 'immigrant' bluntly.

In recent years, it has become more and more difficult to organize immigrants in China. Chinese, who are already difficult to leave their homeland, are now living better in China, at least they can live, and many people are reluctant to move again. Red lines have now been drawn at the local level, and those with less than three acres of land per capita are all poor and are in the category of 'immigration'.

However, many of the poor people in this category are living a little harder, but they are much better than before, and they even see hope, and they are not willing to leave their homeland and go thousands of miles away.

The atmosphere in the Qianqing Palace was calm, and a pair of eyes were staring at Chen Ming. Everyone present has a large chain of interests behind everyone, and the weight of this proposal is still very heavy.

It's just that Chen Ming was obviously caught off guard, and as soon as the Empress Dowager's happy birthday ended, the cabinet exploded a big bomb for him.

The overall proposal is not something that can be decided in a few words, and the exchange of interests between different places has been busy for a while.

The reason why the businessmen of Fujian and Guangdong, who to a large extent controlled the interests of Annam's overseas grain imports, were able to agree, but it took a lot of effort from the two lakes and the Huanghuai. It takes a long time. The news was also reported to Chen Ming before, but Chen Ming's energy was spent on the birthday celebration and he didn't pay attention.

Now he doesn't know the whole process.

However, Chen Ming personally agreed with the matter of raising grain tariffs. Just like the rabbit in the previous life, it is not bad to protect domestic agricultural production by protecting domestic agricultural production with protective prices and heavy taxes on imported grain, which is happening in China at this stage.

The state subsidized farmers, keeping grain prices low and maintaining price stability in the United States. This is based on the sparse agricultural population and highly developed modern mechanical agricultural production in the United States, which is not suitable for the current society.

On the contrary, the practice of rabbits in the previous life was to set a protective price for agricultural products and purchase surplus grain at a protective price higher than the market price, so that the price of grain was maintained at a high level. That's not bad.

At least it can maintain the basic income of the people engaged in agriculture, although this does not seem to be as tall as the old United States, but the agricultural population of rabbits is too much, and the whole people must pay to raise it. The same applies to China today.

Chen Ming's previous tariff-free on grain was to make up for the country. Although the current grain price is low, the main reason why Chen Ming still did not change that policy is that many people in China are still eating miscellaneous grains and coarse grains, and for many farmers, fine grains are still precious. Many people are still doing the same thing as during the Manchu Qing Dynasty - replacing fine grains with coarse grains to maintain the survival of their families.

This made Chen Ming feel very uncomfortable.

Nor did he ask his people to eat meat every day. He only asks everyone to be able to eat white flour steamed buns and white rice, which is really not high in the perception of a traverser. But many people, including city dwellers, are still eating coarse grains, which makes him feel a slight sense of unease and guilt.

Then we will continue to expand overseas grain imports.

Siam, Annam, Malay, Phnom Penh, Vientiane and other ...... have turned these subtropical areas into Chinese farmland.

But his idealistic idea seems to be too idealistic, and now the cabinet's proposal is a consensus among many forces.

"How much does the cabinet think this grain tariff will take?"

Of course, Chen Ming would not immediately agree to this proposal, but asked the cabinet about the amount of additional taxes.

"Your Majesty. Although domestic grain prices are low, it is still necessary to import grain from abroad. The minister thought that it was inappropriate to add heavy taxes, and one layer was enough. ”

Liu Dezhao stood up first. But his words were clearly not unified within the cabinet.

"The tax increase on foreign food is not as high as the protective price. The minister thought that in order to raise domestic grain prices and protect the interests of farmers, taxes should be raised by 30%. ”

In the rolling tide, Wang Huizu can't stay out of the matter.

He not only has great influence in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but also has great interests in Lianghu, because he has been by Chen Ming's side since he joined the Han Army. However, Wang Huizu is not the most ruthless, and Liu Dezhao is not the most clean, and there are still people in the cabinet who propose 50% and 5% tax rates.

Chen Ming looked at the noisy cabinet ministers, his eyes narrowed, there were still disputes in the cabinet, but they had reached an agreement on the collection of grain import taxes.

"Let me think about it."

Chen Ming repented of retiring from the cabinet, he was not ready to return to the cabinet's proposal, the latter can get everyone's agreement on the idea of 'tax increase', and Chen Ming should also weigh this force carefully.

He could have reversed the proposal, but the question was whether it was necessary.

Whether the situation of "grain cheapness hurting farmers" really exists, although there is a big question mark in Chen Ming's heart, reason tells him that this will not be false.

At least the low price of grain hurt the Manchu civil and military ministers and many local stakeholders.

"Pass on Xiao Jian to enter the palace."

……

In winter, the south of the Yangtze River is bleak, and the south of Hunan and western Jiangxi are cold, but the south of Lingnan is still warm.

Sugar oranges, grapefruits, fruits ripening in winter are transported to the north in a boatload.

The General Administration of Guanghan Avenue South Road, which was set up in Guangzhou, is in full swing in a bidding meeting.

The so-called Guanghan Avenue is the official road from Guangzhou to Wuhan, which is a very important traffic lifeline connecting China's north-south traffic. The construction of this kind of traffic road to the west is nothing to do with the Lingnan merchants.

Not only do they have a gap with some established builders in the north in terms of relationships, but there is also a big gap in the quality and speed of their work. Moreover, the former later generations rejected the latter's involvement in the national highway construction industry, and completely isolated Lingnan's funds and contractors.

But Guanghan Avenue is different.

After paying a huge price for the benefits of Fujian, the merchants of Fujian and Guangdong finally got a stepping stone.

According to each other's unannounced agreement, the southern section of Zhuzhou, which starts in Guangzhou in the south and reaches Zhuzhou in southern Hunan in the north, is all their meal.

Lu Guanheng looked at the lively scene in front of him and was stunned, he still didn't know whether his decision to take the officialdom route was right or wrong.

Although he has chosen officialdom and has reached the middle level of the Banking Regulatory Commission and has become the general manager of the Bank of China branch in Guangdong, in order to better complete the tasks assigned by the above, doesn't he also have to deal with these businessmen and others?

When you take out money, you can't wait to ask for help.

And these rich people in Guangzhou, those days were really easy.

When the north and the Guangzhou business group fought, Lu Guanheng, the firm believer of those days, still remembers it vividly, and it is still unforgettable.

At that time, someone called Lu Guanheng and asked him to urge a few loans, but the time was obviously not up to the deadline.

The person who was called for money came directly to see Lu Guanheng, and Lu Guanheng didn't want to offend people plainly, so he told people what he could tell people. The man was reasonable, he didn't hate Lu Guanheng, and thanked Lu Guanheng for his frankness, and then turned around and left.

When the loan term arrived, the loan was immediately repaid. As a result, the next day the man came to Lu Guanheng's office again.

At that time, the man smiled slightly and said to Lu Guanheng: "Mr. Lu, I came here today to submit a loan application. You don't need to give any definite answer, I just want you to have a word for those behind the scenes. ”

"Lao Tzu couldn't make a deal, and he lost 100,000 yuan, and I asked him to double it and throw it into the sea. Lao Tzu can't do business, and none of them want to do it! ”

"Then tell them what I am saying this."

"Relying on the relationship that the Guangzhou business group has laid on the ground in Guangdong Province. Relying on the connections that the business group has in Liangguang and southern Fujian! ”

"Playing yin, who is afraid of whom?"

"Let's see if he has the ability to do business."

"Lao Tzu wants him to win the bid, but he can't complete the construction of the project."

At that time, Lu Guanheng's office was a sword and sword, and every word that spit out from that mouth was murderous.

"You don't believe me?"

"Then we'll see. See who has the last laugh! ”

Arrogant and domineering. The words of Guangdong Province made Lu Guanheng, who was on the other side of the desk, stupid.

……

Although Lu Guanheng knew that behind that person was standing the entire Guangzhou business community, so his tone was particularly hard. But thinking about the life he is living now, Lu Guanheng is really a little envious.

The bidding results for the southern short project of the Guanghan Line in Guangzhou were quickly sent to the Ministry of Construction in Nanjing, which then handed them to the cabinet on one side and Chen Ming on the other. Chen Ming didn't have to wait for Xiao Jian's news, he roughly judged the result he wanted.

- Exchange of interests.