At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, it inherited the system of the Sui Dynasty, that is, the control of salt was not too strict. In the early days of the Tang Dynasty, the people were actually allowed to produce and sell salt by themselves, but they had to obtain the so-called "license" of the state to sell it, otherwise it was to sell smuggled salt. At the same time, however, although the ban on salt has been relaxed, the control on the corresponding steel is very strict. Far from loosening control, steel was produced by the government. This is to control the steel and prevent it from flowing into the hands of the rebels. After all, steel meant weapons in ancient times, and once those rebel forces had weapons, it was equivalent to having rebel powers, which was the factor that controlled steel in the early years of the Tang Dynasty.

However, due to the increase in the speed of production, steel raw materials are far from enough to keep up with the production of weapons. If the raw materials can't keep up, the final result is doomed to tragedy. Therefore, raw materials are a factor that limits the speed of production, so Li Shimin is also thinking about how to increase the output of steel.

First of all, the first point, that is, the steel is run by the state, this absolutely cannot be changed. However, Li Shimin also realized that the large increase in demand for steel this time was caused by the production of ordnance, not the need of the people. So once the Turks are defeated, then I am afraid that in the end there will not be so much steel. In this way, those who are responsible for smelting steel will inevitably lose their jobs, and it is impossible for the government to take the initiative to lay off them, which is the biggest headache for Li Shimin. It is impossible to maintain the state's government-run steel, but on the other hand, it does not want to take on too much worker placement.

"Your Majesty, the biggest problem now is that once we recruit iron-smelting craftsmen, then once the war is over, the result is that we will not be able to settle it. And, once we recruit workers, will our government be able to manage them in the end? Once the workers are recruited, we need more officials to manage them. In this way, we will expand the number of officials, which will definitely be very troublesome. The emperor should know that it is easy for the imperial court to set up an institution, but it is very troublesome to abolish an institution. Chen Fei said.

Chen Fei also pointed out a very huge problem, that is, once more workers are recruited, there will be more officials who need to participate in management, which is also a burden for the imperial court. Whether in ancient times or in later generations, it is actually very simple to set up an institution, because the establishment of a new institution is equivalent to the increase of official positions, and a series of people can be promoted. It will also allow more people to take up positions in the government and become the ruling class. Therefore, the establishment of official positions, whether it is people from the government or ordinary educated people, is very supportive.

On the other hand, once an official position has fulfilled its historical mission, it is very difficult to abolish it. First of all, these officials have not made mistakes, so you can't just kick him out, otherwise many officials will not be able to work with peace of mind. So these officials have to be properly arranged. They cannot be allowed to lose their official positions. This situation has continued to exist in later generations. First of all, officials who have not made mistakes cannot be dismissed, but can only be reassigned. The abolition of official positions is tantamount to making the scarce resource of official positions even less. Those people inside the government, as well as the literati who are not officials outside, are also very opinionated, so they must be scolded in this way.

This is why institutions are getting more and more bloated in ancient times. And then in the end, there was a lot of redundancy. The harm of redundant officials is very huge, and it can completely drain countless state finances. Therefore, since ancient times, many people have advocated the streamlining of government agencies, and this is the reason. Both China and foreign countries advocate streamlining government agencies. This saves a lot of money and allows you to use your wealth where it should be. Streamlining government agencies can allow more people to join production, otherwise they are a group of officials who are not engaged in production, then what hope is there for the country. If you want to do ten sheep and nine herds, then the country is going to be doomed.

And during the Song Dynasty, that was the most terrible time. During the Song Dynasty, there were three "redundant", that is, redundant officials and redundant soldiers, which caused them to gradually lose the country. First of all, there are redundant officials, and they set up various official positions everywhere, and these official positions are managed at a cost. Later, the statistics of the Song Dynasty's redundant officials were terrible, and they simply exceeded the standard by several hundred percent. Less than one-third of the country's officials have actual work tasks, and the remaining two-thirds are leading the benefits of the imperial court leisurely! And the salaries of the officials of the Song Dynasty were simply massive, so although the Song Dynasty looked very wealthy, the finances were eaten by these redundant officials.

"Your Majesty, we might as well try the contracting method and contract this steel workshop run by the imperial court to outside businessmen. Our imperial court just needs to be responsible for supervising it, not letting them flow steel out of the country casually, and just checking the quality. In this way, not only can we use the management methods of merchants, but then we can not set up so many officials, and directly let those merchants recruit, so that the craftsmen they recruit have nothing to do with our court, so we don't need to place these craftsmen at that time. And in this way, we can buy better quality steel at a lower price, and then make better and better weapons, how do you say? Chen Fei asked.

"Contracting, what do you mean by that?" Li Shimin asked.

Li Shimin really couldn't understand the terms of the later generations in Chen Fei's mouth, so he took the initiative to ask many times. However, the methods proposed by Chen Fei many times are also very appropriate, which makes Li Shimin feel that he can solve many corresponding problems. This is also Li Shimin's idea that he is willing to listen to Chen Fei's opinion, because Chen Fei is very skilled in solving problems.

Chen Fei heard that Li Shimin wanted to maintain the iron and steel official business, but he didn't want to bear the high costs that followed, so Chen Fei also combined some management methods in later generations, especially the methods of state-owned enterprise reform, and had some methods. Because Chen Fei felt that those government-run handicraft workshops in ancient times were not much different from the state-owned enterprises in later generations. Although the production tools of later generations were advanced, they were essentially similar to the management methods of government-run workshops in ancient times, and they all had the same problems. Therefore, Chen Fei can also borrow the management methods of later generations to solve the problem, anyway, it is the experience of those politicians in later generations, and of course it can be used. (To be continued......)