Chapter 46

With a large order in his arms, but he did not convince his parents and these prime ministers that gold and silver could not become one of the quasi-currencies, so he could only read it in various cabinets. Originally, a lot of gold and silver were obtained from the countries of the South China Sea and Tianzhu in the Great Eclipse Country, which had a great impact on prices. Coupled with the impact of this large order, the price of gold and silver can flood and even cause disaster. It will still be profitable, but it is very small, and many people oppose it, and this jiāo Yi has to be aborted.

So prepare this simple balance with an intuitive persuasiveness.

The scales were placed on the table, and the weights were taken out. Pointing to the ends of the scales, he said, "The direction in the east is beneficial to me, but the direction in the west is not beneficial to me." Let's see what the pros and cons will be if I do what I do. Let's look at the impact on remote areas first, the more remote the area, the more unable to complete the tribute tax well, such as Nanzhao and other places, just collect some tribute decently, which can be regarded as surrender. But as for my court, the return is a lot of property, and the area and population are subordinate, but the court not only did not seek benefits, but on the contrary, it paid. There is no return for only paying, so I have to relax my management and maintain a superficial submission. But have the people of these areas ever fared well? No. The central power is fettered, the advanced model has not been brought over, the mode of production is backward, because there is no taxation, there is no direct management, and the desert is the same, let the head line manage the clansmen, the chieftain is more and more powerful in the local area, strong to a certain time, there will be ambitions, and the central dynasty has to send a large army to collect. Even for a long time, there will be a serious estrangement, when the central dynasty is strong, there is no problem, but it cannot be strong forever, once a little decline, not only Nanzhao, Jiāo toe and other places will rebel one after another, in turn add to the decline of the central dynasty. The implementation of the gold and silver system can levy some taxes on a limited basis, and with the income, the imperial court will have relevant returns. The disadvantages were the dissatisfaction of some local chiefs, as well as the reduction of the greed of the officials. But after the return, it benefits the people, and the court is more cohesive to the people. Because of the benefits, there will be no contempt between the DPRK and China, and the governance of these regions will be strengthened, including the education and etiquette system, which will be easier to assimilate. The dissatisfaction of the head person for the time being can be exchanged for a long-term integration, and in the end it is no different from the Central Plains. ”

There are many reasons, but Li Wei is also one of them.

With that, placing the weights on the trays on both sides, the bars of the scales began to tilt in a beneficial direction.

"Looking at the sub-remote areas, in this regard, the imperial court has always levied taxes, because of the inconvenience of transportation, the tax must not be reduced, such as the central and southern regions of Lingnan and Jiannan, and the southwest of Jiangnan Province. The people are still feeling that life is difficult. After the implementation of the gold and silver system, the transportation was light, the burden on the people was light, and the income of the imperial court was increasing. The fetters can be ignored for the first time, but for these areas, it will immediately bring great benefits to the imperial court and the local people. "However, this is not easy, and it is necessary to convert the cloth and grain labor in various places into gold, silver, and uranium to calculate, and then use money instead of rent. In fact, this is the prototype of a whip method, which Li Wei did not expect. He only thinks about the advantages and disadvantages, whether it is convenient or not, and it is not all a whip method, for areas where water transportation is convenient, it is still rent-neutral, the north and Guanzhong are short of grain, and there is no food supply in the south, and there will be a greater hunluàn in the north. Therefore, this is a whipping law in local areas, not the entire Tang Dynasty.

There is no need to talk about the interests of the various cabinet owners just mentioned, and he said: "Since the founding of the country, the implementation of rent modulation has been a policy of adapting measures to local conditions. The main body of taxpayers is farmers, and the peasants' output is agricultural mulberry, and the external environment is due to the lack of cash, including copper coins, only a few copper coins, which are not enough to circulate in the market, and taxes are levied and paid. But the result? The time for grain preservation is short, only a few years, and the cloth is only a few decades, and it occupies a large volume, which is inconvenient to transport, and the làng cost is serious. Even in order to reduce the losses, some decrees had to be issued to return the money to the two capitals, which in turn harmed the interests of the common people. The interests of the people are the foundation of the country, the people are safe and the country is safe, and the people are safe and the country is safe, I don't need to explain more. Another important reason is that most of the land in Guanzhong is dry land, and grain production cannot make ends meet, so it is necessary to supply the people in Huainan and Jishui areas in eastern Henan. As the geographical location of each province, Hebei Hedong, Guanzhong, Longyoujiannan, and Henan's central and western regions are the main sources of national soldiers, and the military service burden in Liangzhun, Jishui, Jiangnan, and Shannan regions is not heavy, which can also be made up for by this. But isn't that the case? ”

Again, this is an acute problem, which cannot be solved by a quasi-currency of gold and silver, and may be improved. Continued: "No. In order to balance, the people in the Jiangnan area did not pay a lot of taxes, and let the large families take charge of the ships and freight to reduce the exploitation of the common people. The intentions are good. Otherwise, if the cost of these ships and manpower is calculated, the price of grain from Jiangnan to Guanzhong will be an astonishing sky-high. But are the big families really willing? Tax evasion, first, puts pressure on the common people to reduce taxes, and second. You should know what I said. The people in the Jiangnan area seem to have less military service, but the burden is very heavy. Looking at Guanzhong and the border areas, the people of Jiangnan and Jiangnan are supported, but the state tax revenue cannot make ends meet, and it has not decreased, the land is scarce and the land is thin, the country has been peaceful for a long time, and the people's life is not as good as a year, and they have to bear heavy military service. The implementation of the gold and silver tribute tax system in remote areas undoubtedly increased the country's revenue, and the increase in state revenue reduced the degree of exploitation of the common people. Moreover, gold and silver are easy to store and transport, and there is little loss. But there is another premise, there must be a large amount of gold and silver, a stable exchange mechanism. The amount of gold and silver is solved. ”

Saying that, he took out a large order, and said: "But it must be allowed to circulate, and it cannot be circulated from the people, which will cause serious hunluàn, so it will be recovered from the tax and returned from the salary, a process of retreat, that is, the process of being recognized, combing from top to bottom, so that the people gradually recognize and understand." As soon as it is circulated, the exchange price can be set. It falls by all means and can promote circulation more. This is a process of good xing cycle development. ”

But everyone was silent, and their eyes were fixed on the paper one by one.

This big order made Li Wei feel amazed, and it was these people. The first is the degree of blackness of the heart, for example, under the improvement of the fire yào, the cost of a ten-pound fire yào has dropped to more than 100 wen, but on it is a bag of silver and a pack of fire.

But it has to be sent to the Wa Kingdom.

That's it, the profit is also amazing, one or two silver because of the decline of the gold and silver system, now Luoyang can only be exchanged for 1,000 yuan, but once the edict is issued, it is circulated, and the price must rise, so Li Wei adjusted it to 1,200 yuan, which is a reasonable price.

The reason for this result was that the Japanese people saw its power, but did not know its actual cost, and secondly, they also suppressed it many times with the decline in the price of gold and silver, and as a result, it was sold at a sky-high price.

Secondly, Li Wei also neglected the gold and silver production and reserves of the Japanese people, coupled with the strengthening of imperial power, the desire for advanced weapons, and the yearning for the mainland, and the ambition of the people of the sea, resulting in a huge number of orders. All of them are purchased with gold and silver as the unit of calculation, and the Japanese abacus plays well, and if there is more gold and silver, the price will inevitably fall. So the total amount of this order reached four million six thousand taels of silver. This was the first order at the beginning, and it was probably the heaviest order, but once the Jiāo war began, and the Tang Dynasty secretly engaged in balancing techniques, the scale of the war increased, and new orders inevitably came.

In addition to the low profit of the ship, it is possible that the imperial court alone will be able to harvest more than two million yuan in this jiāo exchange. Even once gold and silver become quasi-currency, as Li Wei said, the profit may increase by one million.

After seeing this order, everyone understood what Li Wei said just now, why he repeatedly said that gold and silver were enough. In the past few years, there has been a lot of gold and silver pouring into the Tang Dynasty, plus these millions of taels of silver, which cannot maintain the country's monetary needs, but at least it can maintain the circulation of the upper class.

And with the help of Liang Jinzhu's hand, to achieve this jiāo easy, not afraid of impeachment, not afraid of the aftermath of the Tang Dynasty.

Looking at the greedy eyes of everyone, including Wu Zetian, they all lost their minds, and let the Tang Dynasty take out so much money from the treasury, even now, it can be done, but I didn't expect that the Wa Kingdom would have so much wealth. (This idea is wrong again, the Tang Dynasty did not use gold and silver as currency, and the gold and silver of the Wa Kingdom did not circulate much, it was accumulated, unlike the wealth of the Tang Dynasty that flowed among the people) was silent for a long time. Li Wei knew it in his heart.

The current context made this interview more costly. After all, at the beginning of the war, a large amount of financial support was needed, and no matter whether it was won or lost after the war, a large amount of rewards and pensions were needed. With two or three million dollars in earnings, it is impossible not to be moved.

And the amount of a large order is another cost.

Still not at ease, he said: "Let's look at this scale, I proposed this proposal, but for the sake of the country and the people, I hope everyone will let go of their prejudices." In that case, the Turks are violent*, do not conquer. Because we don't know the severity of our own family, we only care about fighting in the nest, and it is not interesting to levy...... Also, the benefits of this order are beyond your imagination. ”

Not only the profit of the order itself, but also the number of ships in such a large order, including 500 ships, how many materials are needed for each ship, and how many employment opportunities are brought to the people. How many industries can be driven by these materials, and how many benefits can the people get from them. When the people's income is high, how much consumption can be driven. Therefore, in the later business era, many countries took out subsidies to encourage enterprises to export, and it was precisely for this reason that they would export without making money.

Again, I explained it roughly.

But this time, not many people could understand, and it was a bit foggy.

After finishing speaking, he looked at Pei Yan and said, "Pei Qing, what do you think?" ”

After playing Jiāo Dao so many times, I also found some shortcomings of Pei Yan. Talking to him, at least you have to hang the big hat of the country's righteousness, with this big hat press, this person has one of the biggest shortcomings, that is, good righteousness, good face, when he wants to make a fuss, he will hesitate in his heart.

First of all, I forced Pei Yan.

In other phases, Cui Zhiwen has a good impression of himself, at least a centrist. Wei Xuantong, Guo Zhengyi, and Cen Changqian are the same, Guo Zhiju is backward to Pei Yan, but he can't be regarded as a very disgusting person. Xue Yuanchao is a dog's tail grass, and when the wind blows that way, it will fall that way. However, Pei Yan does not eat soft and hard, and he is a prickly goods.

But for the economy, Pei Yan is weak, and when Li Wei asked himself, he had to look at Wu Zetian.

Li Wei put away the weight and pressed the tray on the east side of the scale.

Wu Zetian looked at his son's action, smiled, and said, "Hong'er, don't be careful, your father and the palace won't be so stingy." ”

I was listening to it just now, and I was thinking about it.

For Silla, Wu Zetian and Li Zhi were very disgusted, and Wu Zetian was puzzled, so a small country with a big egg would dare to be in the mouth of the tiger in the Tang Dynasty, not by the mouth, but by the mouth, and grabbed food. Li Jinxing beat Silla very badly, and as a result, the fight was over, and it turned out that the Tang Dynasty still occupied most of the territory of Baekje, and after the fight, there was no more. Liu Renliang and Li Jinxing fought again, but as a result, the Han River was gone, and Pyongyang was born into a checkpoint on the border.

What's going on?

But Wu Zetian has no bad impression of the Wa Kingdom, at most a stupid emperor makes her uncomfortable.

I am not interested in the territory of these two countries, Silla is remote and bitter cold, and it is better to occupy Silla than to capture Linyi. The country seems to be mountainous, but there are areas that are warm and humid, but separated by the sea. There is no peace in the surrounding countries, so what is the role of the overseas country?

But she was very impressed by what she had gained.

In the past few years, many new things have continued to appear, most of which are from his son Nong, bringing a lot of income, but the total tax in a year will never exceed 20 million. Just one jiāo Yi may be worth one-sixth of the annual tax of the entire Tang Dynasty.

Since the beginning of the war, the treasury is tight, if this income is added, and the Danshui Canal is reduced, a sum of money can be saved, and it is possible that the family will move next year, so that the imperial court will release the list of seafarers, maybe the son will change again, and the consumption of a big war will be changed.

This is what Wu Zetian values.

fight, she will continue to fight, but what she is fighting for is power, not a thing, and the stability of the country will also help her.

But she was very wise, and immediately said: "It's just that this palace is worried about one thing, where can the people use grain and hemp to pay tribute to taxes?" If it is sold to a merchant, I am afraid that there will be more wind in the sky. ”

"Yes, the Queen Mother is right, and the minister is also very worried," Xue Yuanchao said.

Now that the situation has changed, he didn't dare to openly support the Queen Mother, but now supporting the Queen Mother is equivalent to supporting the Emperor, so in many matters, Xue Yuanchao has changed from a shy answer to openly supporting Wu Zetian's opinions.

This is what Li Wei dislikes the most, the common people, just a little income, but the taxes of the Tang Dynasty are exploited on these people. But what can these people peel off? It is very well said that every Ding rents two stones of millet, according to the price of rice in Luoyang, about 20 Wen. The cloth is two feet and five feet, and the additional hemp is three catties, which is for the tune, and it is about less than three hundred words. Twenty days of servitude, or substitution of six zhang silk, less than six hundred wen. A small amount of money is always taxed.

Is it enough? So the household tax and the Yicang tax were added, and the actual tax per ding exceeded two to three taels, and that's it, and then there was public money. But Li Wei didn't know that there were also taxes on housing, tea, salt (not a thin tax like Li Wei's salt, but a heavy tax of three or four hundred yuan per catty of salt), liquor tax and so on. That's it, the tax at the peak of the Tang Dynasty did not exceed 30 million yuan.

It is precisely because of the neglect of a group, large families and rich people, that the taxes of the Tang Dynasty have not been raised. Later, the economy of the Ming Dynasty was more developed than that of the Tang Dynasty, but it also suffered from the disease of the Tang Dynasty, and the tax was not raised. Therefore, in the end, the people all rebelled.

Even if there is no miscellaneous tax in later generations, the tax of more than two dollars per household is quite high for the peasants. Li Wei compared it, and if a penny is exchanged for RMB, it also depends on what era of RMB in later generations. When reading the newspaper with my colleagues, I said that in the past few years, income has not increased much, but prices have risen three, four, or five times, especially housing prices, which have increased more than ten times. At that time, Nong didn't understand, but now finally Nong understands, Song Meiling's words, the taste of rights. One of the fine traditions of the Chinese people.

The memory is still fresh, therefore, one penny in the Tang Dynasty is equivalent to three máo to five máo in 2000, five máo to eight máo in 2005, and one to five máo in 2010. With the current income of the common people, the tax of more than two dollars is what an impact on the common family.

But the biggest piece of cake, Li Wei didn't dare to move. I had to change my way and snatch pieces of food from the tiger's mouth.

This measure still did not move the ideas of any large families, and said: "For this point, Erchen has also thought about it, and he has also thought of a strategy, let the local government and the people decide." ”

"What's the explanation?" Li Zhi asked curiously.

"You can issue an edict to let some areas, but you must keep the five roads of Hebei, Hedong, Henan, Longyou, Guanzhong, not for others, these places are in great shortage of food, and they themselves rely on the state to subsidize, if they are released, grain prices will immediately rise, in addition, the Jishui region, the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the two quasi-regions, these are all important national grain production areas, and the north mainly depends on the grain transfer in these areas, and it can not be put. It doesn't matter if it's any other area. ”

"Oh," Cui Zhiwen said.

The emperor is very careful in doing things, for example, he doesn't know the details of the famous Mén family and Xingyang and his party, but he can analyze it from various trends, and the emperor used some means to win over these top big families and let them put down their bodies and take the initiative to cooperate. And not forcibly suppressed. In this way, the residual bo driven by each change will be infinitely reduced.

"Then issue an edict, so that these areas can partially replace taxes with gold, silver and copper coins, as for the price of grain and silk according to the distance and the difficulty of the road, it will be divided into three equal parts, and the currency will be converted into eighty percent, sixty percent and forty percent of the price of grain and silk in the capital."

This is also a very reasonable statement, no matter how the local prices fluctuate, the ultimate goal is to transport these silk and grain to the capital, and the income of the imperial court is ultimately realized at the price of the capital. But these areas, even south of Jiannan and Qinling, and relatively close to Guanzhong, are very difficult to reach. Therefore, it cannot be calculated at the original price, and some discounts are applied separately. In fact, because of the road, the imperial court was also far more than the consumption of these discounts. In this way, the imperial court benefited, and the local government also benefited.

But there is one thing that Li Wei did not say.

As long as this edict is issued, because of its simplicity and cost-effectiveness, the people will take the initiative to increase the number of jiāo, which will have great benefits for the prosperity of commerce. He didn't say it, and for a while, including Wu Zetian, he didn't see it. What we look at is only the size of the interests involved, and how many pros and cons there are to the imperial court.

He continued: "But the imperial court does not need to forcibly apportion how many gold, silver and copper coins the local officials should pay, and the local officials must not forcibly let the people apportionment the collection of gold, silver, grain and hemp. The people are willing to continue to pay rents and taxes as they had done before, and the officials cannot stop them, and if they pay gold and silver, they cannot stop them. In this way, no matter how much the merchants fished, the people had two choices. Merchants can buy from the people in currency if they can make a profit on the imperial discount, for example, Yongzhou is short of grain, and other river basins in Xiangshui can be adjusted by merchants, instead of spending thousands of miles and transporting them to the capital. At the very least, it is necessary to ensure that the price of grain and silk will not be lower than the discounted price of the imperial court, otherwise the peasants will pay tribute to the imperial court in the original way. The people are convenient, the merchants are beneficial, the unnecessary làng fees are reduced, the imperial court is convenient and feasible, and even the tax income will be increased, so as not to bother the people everywhere to transport and escort. And those who can collect grain locally, the officials do not dare to relax, maybe they will continue to use big and small betta fish to rou the people, but they dare not use fake gold and silver to paste their surnames. It's not a passerby, you can escape, you don't know where to go, you can't find it. ”

Calculate it, it's the shipping cost.

This freight saving can make the interests of all parties achieve a win-win situation.

But it's not like no one has seen it before, and if you want to achieve it, you must have sufficient monetary protection before you can do it.

Therefore, the influx of a large amount of gold and silver happened to be an opportunity.

Li Zhisi pondered for a moment and said: "In your opinion, Pei Qing, you are similar to the specific situation of each state, and first give a reaction to the edict." ”

Yan also can't say anything against it.

Generally speaking, the policy is very moderate, and it is okay to oppose it, and continue to pay tribute according to the original tribute tax system. This time, if I want to oppose it, I can't find a reason.

But it also depends on what it is, for example, forcibly setting the price of gold and silver higher than the current price of gold and silver, what kind of wind will it cause, if the price cannot be raised, and the salary will be paid to the officials, the officials will inevitably be dissatisfied, and what storm will be caused, this Pei Yan has no bottom in his heart.

However, the imperial treasury was too short of money, and Pei Yan couldn't refuse this big order.

Li Wei said the second thing, and said: "In September, I sent an envoy to Huifu, and asked Bisu to send important ministers to Beijing to talk to me. Because of the Mo Nan Storm*, this line will be very slow, and about next year, his courtiers will come to the capital. The goal of this trip is to support the Hui with some weapons, so that they can grow stronger, and restrain the Turks in the north. ”

Li Zhisi pondered for a moment and said, "Accurate." ”

I don't understand it anymore, far away Jiāo close attack, the Hui have been oppressed by the Turks for many years, and they are inseparable from the Turks, Bisu from their grandfather to his father to himself, all of them were forcibly supported by the Tang Dynasty to come to power, and they have a deep affection for the Tang Dynasty, and it is reasonable to support some weapons.

"Then the father and the queen mother, the sons and daughters have retired."

Exiting Shangyang Palace, Li Wei couldn't help but wave his hand.

It was a big deal, but it fulfilled many of his ideas. Including some changes to taxation, changes in the way of thinking outside Jiāo, and even military arrangements. But it also depends on the changes in the price of gold and silver in Luoyang after the edict is issued, so that it can really be destined whether this strategy can survive for a long time.

A few days later, the edict was finally issued to the world, and the whole city of Luoyang was in an uproar.