'That's right, saint. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 Info', several prime ministers glanced at each other, but all eyes were focused on Bai Minzhong, and he had to come forward hard, "Li Xun's method, although it starts with the merit of the state, but also makes the people's strength. ’

Bai Minzhong meant that Liu Yan's salt method would be beneficial to all parties. Especially if you don't serve, the people go up. He paid for the hired laborers, not the use of forced labor, so that the people could live in peace, and the expenses were paid from the salt tax, so as not to increase the burden on the court. Both sides are beneficial.

However, Li Xun's salt method, although his income is more than Liu Yan's, but... To put it simply, Yan Fa still has the power to leave behind the people, and Xun takes it all.

The proof is that after the implementation of Liu Yande's salt law, the phenomenon of private salt among the people has decreased a lot. But since the establishment of the middle years, it has been unstoppable. Even if Li Xun rectified the salt method, it was only slightly improved. Here's why.

Seeing Li Chen nodding, several prime ministers breathed a sigh of relief. The emperor wants to raise taxes, and it is unstoppable. But on the whole, the emperor is still aware of the people's experience. For the sake of the people.

'So, what are the good strategies for me to deal with the malpractices of the salt government now, and what do you teach me? After asking about the salt policy and salt production methods in the Tang Dynasty, Li Chen continued.

Several prime ministers had embarrassed faces, and even Bai Minzhong didn't speak, letting others stare at him. In fact, they all know where the problem is, but no one dares to say.

'Why, don't tell me, none of you know why. Li Chen's voice was calm, but no one would believe that the emperor was really calm.

What happened that night into the wee hours of the morning, now slowly there is news. On that night, known as the night of bloodshed in the palace, about a thousand people died, and every palace burned to the ground. What was even more terrifying was that the emperor let the others flee and set fire to the palace himself.

This is what people who are in despair can do, and even very desperate. Ah, it hurts. In history, the king of the Xuan Dynasty was ** on the deer platform.

However, Li Chen, who should have added a sum to this record, actually survived. It was nothing short of miraculous. It is said that that night, everyone swore that they saw the true dragon descend to earth and protect the Son of Heaven, so that the Son of Heaven would be unharmed in the fire.

This kind of thing that is close to the time of transmission originally only appeared in novels and legends, but is it really in real life? They couldn't believe it or not, all the soldiers who participated in the battle, no matter which side won it, whether it was the left Shence army now, or the original right army who was punished to rebuild the palace, they all said in unison.

Not only did they speak in unison, but they were also full of adoration. The left god strategy army is worship, and being punished to work as a coolie to get the right army is not only worship, but also panic, thinking that they actually waved their swords at the true dragon emperor, it was a moment of fear. Fortunately, the Son of Heaven did not blame them, but only let them rebuild the palace as atonement.

As a result, when no one supervises, everyone is simply deadly when they start working. In fact, it is not that there is no supervision, but the supervision is very little manpower, and it is very idle. It's just because they're so serious that they don't need to be supervised and work hard, and the manpower for supervision is getting less and less.

Because it was almost impossible to act, everyone believed it. Therefore, now in the face of Li Chen's questioning, everyone is sweating, just when Bai Minzhong couldn't withstand the pressure and wanted to confess, Li Chen spoke again, "I don't think it's early today, you go to dinner, if you have an idea, you have to write a concerto, I will see it." ’。

Several prime ministers retreated one after another, as if they had been granted amnesty. After they left, Li Chen first went to have lunch, and then went to see his little daughter. Then we start dealing with government affairs.

For Yan Zheng, those prime ministers don't say it, Li Chen probably also understands some of the drawbacks, he just wants to see if there is any prime minister who has the courage to expose and then execute. It's a pity, it doesn't seem to be, and he is not too disappointed, so if it doesn't work, he will replace him.

However, he still needs to investigate more, this prime minister can't be replaced, just because they don't have the courage to change it, it's biased. Governing a big country is like cooking a small fresh, Li Chen understands this truth, if the prime ministers who are replaced are all very courageous, it may be bad.

He only needs to promote one or two who have the courage to get up, anyway, there is no limit to the number of prime ministers in the Tang Dynasty, Tongping Zhangshi, it is just a qualification, and he has the qualification to participate in the discussion of politics, no matter what his original official position was, anyway, he added a Tongping Zhangshi, which is the prime minister. So there was no need for him to rush into action.

What are the disadvantages of the current salt law, Li Chen can analyze a few points according to the information he has collected. The first is the hypothetical estimation of salt profits.

Because at the beginning, Liu Yan allowed salt merchants to pay taxes with other things, such as cloth, lacquerware, and so on. Later, it expanded to many precious things, such as tortoiseshell and so on... This is a kind of normality, Datang coins are not enough, rather than collecting some bad money, or because of a large amount of money collected to pay taxes, forcing the same money to be in short supply, it is better to let them take something else instead.

This was a good idea, but later the salt government was corrupted, and many merchants took advantage of this to collude with officials to overestimate or underestimate the price of salt, resulting in a shortage of tax revenue. In addition, because silk silk was to be purchased in lieu of taxes, merchants used this as an excuse to conduct long-distance trade.

Originally, it was not a bad thing to trade, and it was okay if the merchant could not be troublesome. But they use this to evade taxes, saying that they have to pay taxes, which is not advisable.

The third point is that many salt merchants, because the capital is not enough for a while, buy salt on credit. Wait until later to make it up. However, this was also exploited, deliberately dragging it out and not paying it back, completely relying on the salt money. It's almost a no-brainer.

The fourth point is private salt. Because of the establishment of cards in various places to collect taxes, the price of salt has soared. Those criminals who smuggle salt make a profit from this. This not only greatly damaged the salt tax revenue, but also those who smuggled salt often committed adultery. Those who do this are very brave, and they are familiar with the roads, and they often play with officers and soldiers, and the officers and soldiers catch robbers.

In addition, they themselves often fight in private, so they are bold and treat the government as nothing. Li Chen had heard of that kind of fire thief, and he was also a kind of smuggler. If there is no salt to sell, it doesn't hurt to make a cameo appearance as a strongman.

Speaking of which, it's still a rule. In Li Chen's view, the official opinion of the problem is still the rule of officials. Actually, the first and third points are easy to solve. Why do officials help you underestimate the price of salt and overestimate the price? Why should you still get salt on credit when you owe it again and again? There are officials who are helping.

Even, on the fourth point, there are officials involved. Li Chen didn't believe it, the inspection, those who were responsible for investigating smuggled salt, and those who smuggled did not collude with each other.

As for the second point, it is easy to solve. As long as there is an order, such behavior is completely forbidden, and you can buy cloth if you like it, and you can ship it wherever you like. You pay taxes, and I don't care about you. Even, this point is also related to the rule of officials, those who set up cards to collect taxes, will they be as clear as water, and will be deceived by your excuses? confiscate money, where will it help you like this.

If the problem of government administration is not solved, the problem of salt tax cannot be solved. These people are too much to catch, for example, during the Jingzong period, they caught Lu Ang, an official of the Fujian Salt Supervision Yuan, and accepted bribes of 300,000 yuan. You can think of it as, about a billion RMB.

No wonder, those prime ministers refused to speak. Everyone knows the problem, but as soon as he opens his mouth, if the emperor assigns him to do this, then the problem is big.

There was no way, Li Chen could only put it down temporarily. He must be sorted out, but not now, now he has a firm foothold, and his power is not enough, so he has to slow down first.

The next day, Li Chen did not continue to summon the minister, he had something to do today. After getting up, as usual, I moved first, had breakfast, and waited for Suleiman.

'Suleiman, the grass people, has seen the saint. As soon as they met, Suleiman made a cross-handed salute, and Li Chen waved his hand vaguely, "Don't be too polite, speaking of which, we are closer to each other in private." ''The grass people don't dare to be rude. ''Don't dare?'' But you're rude, don't forget, you're also a nobleman. After Li Chen ascended the throne, Suleiman was given a knighthood and became the founder of the county.

This is the position of each of the four grades, and there are seven hundred households in the food estate. It can be regarded as setting a precedent in the Tang Dynasty, and the emperor of the Tang Dynasty seems to have not taken the Hu Shang woman as a concubine. Suleiman, this is the first one, Hu Shangguo. This also made Suleiman a little frightened, and he usually reminded himself to be cautious, but he didn't expect to be too cautious.

"Okay, okay, sit down, this is private, no one cares about this, otherwise Xiaoxiao will knock me on the head later." "The saint forgives my sins, I am such a daughter, it is inevitable that I will be spoiled, and I will scold her well." ''No, no, I don't hate Xiaoxiao, let's get down to business.'' ’

Seeing that Suleiman was too restrained, and he didn't know if it was because he was old or because he was the emperor, he couldn't let go, so Li Chen spoke directly and got down to business.

'I want to open a bank, please ask Uncle Su to preside. ''Banks?'? 'Suleiman was confused,' Was he specialized in buying and selling gold and silver?' ''No, it's a savings and lending shop'

It is no wonder that Suleiman was confused, in the Tang Dynasty, the financial industry was much more developed than in the previous dynasties, and it can be roughly divided into a pledge bank specializing in the mortgage industry, which can be regarded as a pawnshop.

The other is the cabinet shop, which is similar to the money bank, but it is not. The cabinet is dedicated to letting people store money. Li Chen used the cabinet shop.

The cabinet is not equal to the money bank. In the Tang Dynasty, there was no concept of a money bank. In addition to making people deposit, there is also a loan business, which is not available in the cabinets of the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, the biggest contribution was flying money. It's a big deal.

It was so much of a function. Li Chen briefly explained the function of the bank, and Suleiman thought he understood and nodded. I admire Li Chen very much, I really didn't see the wrong person at the beginning, even if he can't be the emperor, Li Chen can be rich and rival the country.

Seeing that he seemed to understand, a little black line appeared on Li Chen's head, and I haven't finished talking yet. It's just a deposit, I'll call it a bank, why call it a bank. What's more, he planned to let Suleiman set up, but the Datang National Bank. (To be continued.) )