Dali Temple, is the legal institution of the Zhao State, named after the ancestor Gaotao who once served as a "liguan", he is the traditional basis for the Zhao State to vigorously advocate the "rule of law" while maintaining the ritual system. The pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info served as Dali is Zheng Guoren Deng Xi, also known as "Dali Siqing", he handles dozens of cases every day, and his subordinate district magistrates are responsible for countless small litigation cases, and Ji Ran is not responsible for the law, how can he know which case Zhao Hou is talking about?

But I heard Zhao Wuxian say: "Ji Xiang should remember that because of natural and man-made disasters and the shortage of domestic food, the widow issued a regulation last year, following the example of Xia Yu and Zhou Gongdan, in addition to official banquets, it is strictly forbidden to make wine and sell wine in China......"

Chinese wine has a long history, and it is said that it was brewed by Du Kang during the Yellow Emperor's period, but this theory is too long to verify. In the Xia Dynasty, according to legend, when Dayu, there was a craftsman Yidi to make wine, as a tribute, Xia Yu tasted and felt that the taste of this thing was very wonderful, so he drank it as water one after another, and was drunk unconsciously. When he came to his senses, he changed color, and made people throw away all the wine, and prophesied: "In the Hereafter, there will be those who will die with wine!" ”

Sure enough, the destruction of the country and the state of Xia Wei and Shang in later generations are inseparable from alcohol. Maybe they were too drunk and unconscious, or maybe the green wine soaked in bronze wine vessels for a long time contained a lot of heavy metals, which made their bodies collapse and their spirits fall into madness.

In short, wine is a thing that can be pleasant to drink less, but as soon as the desire in the heart is opened, it is difficult to fill, and the ancients began to realize that this kind of thing must be curbed.

So at the time of the Yin and Zhou Revolutions, Zhou Gongdan left the first prohibition in Chinese history in the "Book of Wine". In view of the lessons of his demise, the Duke of Zhou stipulated that the people were not allowed to "drink in groups" without reason, and those who violated it were "detained".

Although this edict was not long in coming, its spirit was constantly reaffirmed. After entering the Spring and Autumn Period, the vassal states often banned alcohol, but in addition to avoiding group drinking, drunkenness, and misconduct, it was more due to the practical purpose: to save food.

In the pre-Qin period, China's fruit wine was not very developed, and the wine was generally brewed from grains, which required a large amount of grain, and frequent wars and natural disasters would cause a large failure of the grain harvest, which often appeared that the folk rice could not be eaten, but the nobles were still making wine and drinking for fun.

Zhumen's wine and meat stink, and there are frozen bones on the road, which is undoubtedly what Zhao Wuxian does not want to see, so last year, he ordered that no liquor makers and sellers were allowed in the country, and asked Deng Yi to issue a decree: "More than three people, drink in groups for no reason, and be fined three hundred"!

Before the establishment of the Zhao State, it seemed to have entered an "era of prohibition".

In this regard, Zhao Wuxian felt good about himself at the beginning, not only because Yan Ying and others of the same era stood up many times to advocate moderation in drinking, and it was best to prohibit the brewing and sale of alcohol, but also because Zhao Xiangzi in history was also a well-known drunkard.

Wuxian remembered that he had seen a small fable, saying that Zhao Xiangzi was so complacent after defeating Zhibo that he drank and carnivaled all night long, and did not stop for five days and five nights, and shamelessly showed off to his attendants: "Lonely is really an extraordinary person!" I drank wine for five days and five nights, but I didn't feel drunk at all! In the end, it was Youmo, a close attendant, who said to him: "If the lord works harder, he will be able to catch up with the merchants who have been drinking for more than seven days and seven nights." This scared Zhao Xiangzi awake.

Now that Zhao Wuxian is banning alcohol among the people, the government has also reduced the demand for alcohol, which on the one hand can save food for war, and on the other hand, it can also be different from the historical "he", which is a kind of self-affirmation.

However, almost a year after it was implemented, Zhao Wuxian found that this ban was useless at all......

Although the liquor shops in the market have disappeared, as long as Weifu looks around the market, you can find that there are hundreds of private breweries that have sprung up in the townships and liju around Yecheng alone.

Thinking of this, Zhao Wuxian said helplessly to Ji Ran: "Since the ban was issued, the wine in the market has never been cut off. "Not to mention, many soldiers who made military achievements during the war were drunk at Yecheng's home during the prohibition of alcohol, went out to frolic, and were arrested by Zhijinwu.

Although the Dali Temple has tried the case, confiscated the wine-making equipment, fined the group drinkers, and deposed all the officials who knew the law and violated the law, and colluded with the private wine shop. But this is true at the foot of the capital, let alone at the county level. ”

Ji Ran nodded approvingly, now this ban has completely become a situation, the starting point of this decree is because it is determined to "save food", but the result of the implementation is counterproductive.

After the prohibition of alcohol, because of the high profits from the sale of moonshine, local tycoons and wealthy merchants vied to make wine, and instead of saving, food was consumed more, and even organized crime in the county was born. Among them, Dongyang, Hanoi and other wealthy areas are even more so, pinned on the border passes but not levied, and there is also an inflow of moonshine in Luwei

After suffering this loss, Wuxian also understood that in a society like Huaxia, which pursues the well-being of the world, no matter for moral, political, or even human life reasons, no matter how severe the prohibition of alcohol is, it is impossible to last. Later generations of prohibitions such as Shang Ying, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, etc., all ended in failure and had to give in to reality.

Because the people's demand for drinking alcohol cannot be suppressed at all, the trend of drinking in the spring and autumn has become an important part of people's daily life. During the New Year's holidays, as long as the family situation is not too difficult, people who have been tired for a year hope to drink a little wine and dance with their hands, as for whether the grain used to make this wine will be the ration for the hungry people hundreds of miles away, the drinker does not care. In troubled times, drinking alcohol can especially soothe people's hearts. The drunkard's intention is not to drink, but to be afraid of disaster, and can only forget the reality by getting drunk......

In this case, the alcohol is naturally banned.

So Zhao Wuxian said to Ji Ran: "Therefore, the widow thinks that since it is difficult to ban wine, in fact, there can be another way, which can not only curb the trend of private brewing, but also allow the treasury to increase its income." ”

Ji Ran is an expert in finance and economics, and he immediately understood, and said with a smile: "Isn't the king going to implement a half-ban and half-gall in Zhao State, and the people are forbidden to brew, and only the government will implement a monopoly on alcohol?" ”

……

In January of the first year of Zhao Hou Wuxian, in order to conform to the atmosphere of the whole country's celebration, Zhao Wuxian announced through Dali Temple: lift the prohibition of alcohol promulgated last year!

For a time, wealthy families and Chinese families from all over the country raised their glasses to each other, and doctors, bureaucrats, and military officials also applauded this initiative, and generously brought out the wine that had been hidden in the cellar of their homes for a long time, ready to drink heartily.

However, they were too happy, and there was still half a section of this decree: "From now on, Zhao State will implement wine!" "The ban on alcohol was lifted, but the ban on brewing remained, and the guilt of brewing without permission was added to the crime, and the government would monopolize liquor in order to monopolize the profits from brewing and selling.

In this regard, Zuo Shi Qiuming's record is particularly exquisite: "Since then, the name is forbidden but the actual permission is to make money, not wine." In other words, nominally prohibiting alcohol is actually only allowed to be operated by the government, in order to extract taxes from it, not to ban alcohol itself.

Under the strict orders of the higher-ups, the local authorities no longer turned a blind eye, but vigorously and resolutely found out the private brews that had been targeted for a long time, or adopted or destroyed them. For a while, the big breweries around Yecheng and the counties were swept away, and with it, the liquor shops reopened, but the ones on the table were all new wines marked with the government's monopoly label.

In this regard, the nobles, nobles, officials, and speculative merchants who participated in the brewing and selling of moonshine and are now having their homes raided are naturally miserable, but the consumers of alcohol still welcome it. Although the liquor sold by the government is more expensive than that of private brewing, it is better than the quality, especially those spirits and sake that the outside world does not know how to make it, and it can be sold at a sky-high price.

These wine revenues are like a shot in the arm for Zhao Guo's finances, which cannot make ends meet. After the implementation of the liquor policy, Taifu can obtain 20% of the profit just through the sale of liquor. If we add to this the high profits of brewing, which can be at least 200,000 yuan for every 1,000 minutes of brewing produced by the government's workshops, the income is undoubtedly a large amount, and it can indeed solve the financial scarcity.

In February and March, Zhao Guotaifu, who tasted the sweetness of "Forbidden in Zheng", introduced several monopoly policies in succession.

First of all, it reaffirmed the currency system of the Zhao State, with gold and five baht coins as the only designated currency in circulation, abandoning knife coins, cloth coins and other currencies, and strictly prohibiting counties and private coinage. The current currency reform has basically solved the problems of privately minting copper coins and the chaotic currency system, and stabilized the market and circulation. More importantly, since then, not only the nine counties of Zhao State, but also Lu and Wei have been deprived of the power to mint coins, and they have been transferred to the "Yecheng Three Officials" (Zhong Guan, Skill, and Copper Identification Three Officials) under the jurisdiction of Taifu, who are respectively responsible for drum casting, engraving and raw materials. Zhao Wuxian is ruthless, and he wants to eat a seigniorage!

At the same time, there was an even more overbearing reform: the monopoly of salt and iron.

"Salt monopoly", that is, the Zhao government clearly stipulates that whether it is the big brine in Taiyuan, the Anyi Pond in Hedong, or even the local salt boiled in various places, all belong to the state, and selling private salt is a capital crime! In terms of production, the government supervises the people's property, stipulates that the people boil salt at a specific time and in a specific area, and delivers it to the county and county equal-loss officials and leveling officials to purchase, transport, and sell it in a unified manner.

In fact, salt is monopolized by the state, not something that only existed in the Qin and Han dynasties, but a pioneering work of Guan Zhong.

According to Guan Zhong's theory of "Guanshan Hai", Ji Ran calculated the account for Zhao Wuxian: "A large country with thousands of military vehicles and a total population of 1 million people will collect 3 yuan per person per month, and 3 million yuan a month; However, as long as the price of salt is increased by 1 yuan per liter and the salt is sold by mouth according to the household registration, you can get an extra 3 million yuan per month, which is equivalent to the income brought by the high tax of 3 yuan per month......

Similarly, the "iron monopoly" is a new industry, with the government monopolizing large and small iron ores in the territory, and excluding private traders from mining, transportation, casting, and sales. So that this kind of Zhao State weapon will not easily flow abroad, but also to ensure the monopoly of the market, so that the price of iron is maintained at a price similar to that of bronze.

Simple expropriation and extortion are easy to provoke popular uprisings, but on the surface, the "salt and iron monopoly" does not directly levy taxes and will not cause any complaints from the people.

Although Ji Ran's economic ideas are heavy on agriculture, they do not exclude other industries, and he once clearly pointed out to Zhao Wuxian that "a rich country is not together, and if there is no end industry, what is the industry?" ”

In Ji Ran's view, agriculture is not the only way to get wealth, industry and commerce, especially commerce, are also the source of a rich country and a strong army.

Although Zhao Wuxian had a consistent understanding of the "government-run" in history and the state-owned enterprises in later generations, he naturally knew that under the condition that it was difficult to implement market monopoly and supervision at the grassroots level, these three kinds of monopoly would inevitably produce all kinds of drawbacks. But now that the depletion of the treasury is imminent, even if he drinks to quench his thirst, he can only implement it, and he can only look forward to slowly refining the specifications and changing them in the process of practice.

With this three-pronged income from the salt, iron, and wine franchises, Ji Ran's "living within one's means" this year can finally be done smoothly, but although the source is opened, in terms of expenditure, it still has to be summed up, and what needs to be solved is the reward for the meritorious soldiers and ministers in the process of establishing the Zhao State...... In this regard, Ji Ran couldn't interject.

Fortunately, long before the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhao Wuxian had already discussed the measures with Dong Anyu and Yu Wuzheng.

In February and March, under the expectation of meritorious soldiers, the "Military Lord's Law" of Zhao, which was very different from the current system, began to be promulgated and implemented......

PS: There is one more chapter before 12 o'clock

(To be continued.) )