"Your Majesty, first of all, we can make it clear that these iron-smelting workshops are also owned by our government. Our government does not want to give up this iron-smelting workshop, but it is just renting it to those merchants outside to help us manage it. We can ask merchants to promise to produce enough steel for us every year or month, and then we can purchase the steel that these merchants have borrowed from our government workshops at a price that is acceptable to both of us. In this way, we can take advantage of the excellent management methods of businessmen to organize production, and reduce the cost of our management. Moreover, there is no need to expand the amount of officials, and there is no need to bear the various benefits that officials need to give. Everything is recruited by the merchants themselves, and those who are recruited are also the merchants' subordinates, not our officials. Chen Fei said.

But Li Shimin immediately said: "How can the iron smelting workshop of the imperial court be given to merchants? ”

"Your Majesty, let me emphasize once again that this iron-smelting visit is also from our imperial court. We just agreed to lend the merchants to let them organize the production of steel, and then we bought the steel at the right price. If this merchant does not produce enough or good quality, or something else that is detrimental to the interests of our government, we can kick them out and find another merchant to come in and replace him. Therefore, the right to make all final decisions is also in our government, but our government does not directly interfere in their production. Chen Fei said.

The method proposed by Chen Fei is actually to separate ownership and management rights. The government continues to maintain ownership, but cedes the right to operate to contractors, so that it can borrow the contractor's advanced management model, and then reduce management costs, and even increase steel production, so as to maximize profits. In order to obtain sufficient profits, businessmen naturally try to increase output and reduce costs while maintaining quality and quantity. In this way, Chen Fei will also be able to obtain enough steel.

In fact, this method was contracted by Chen Fei to learn from those factories in later generations, and in the early days of reform in later generations, many small state-owned factories suffered losses year after year due to poor management. At that time, in order to turn losses into profits, they were contracted to private managers, so that they changed the management model, and then stimulated production, and the method of turning losses into profits could be achieved. This not only guarantees state ownership of the factory, but also allows private individuals to receive a portion of the profits. However, this is the result of a specific historical period, and Chen Fei also used it. This steel workshop of the Tang Dynasty was actually similar to those small state-owned enterprises in later generations, and the ownership of the government should be guaranteed. However, if you want to increase production and reduce costs, you can consider contracting.

"Your Majesty, as for those craftsmen, those craftsmen we recruited before contracting can be given to them according to the past treatment of our government, and the merchants who want to contract promise not to reduce their treatment. However, the craftsmen recruited by the merchants after the contract, that is, the employees of their merchants themselves, are not from our court. So we don't have to bear the burden of their placement, we can let them go with the merchants. In this way, the cost of our management is reduced a lot. Chen Fei said.

And Li Shimin asked again: "Then how to prevent steel from flowing into the hands of outsiders?" If once outflowed. That's definitely not good for us. ”

"Your Majesty, we can send someone to guard the door of the workshop, if the person who goes out must be searched, there can be no entrainment. And the soldiers outside our door can also check the quality of steel. This ensures that the steel can be completed with quality and quantity. If the emperor still can't believe it, the merchant has contracted a steel workshop, then we can always trade the steel produced every day with the merchant immediately. Immediately after the transaction was completed, people from the government escorted them to the ordnance superintendent. It can now be produced as an ordnance. Chen Fei said.

Li Shimin also nodded, this method is really good. It can not only ensure that the cost of steel production is reduced, but also the output can be increased. And the government does not have to take on so much responsibility for recruiting craftsmen, everything is the responsibility of the contractors themselves. Then you can solve all kinds of problems very well. As for whether steel will flow out, Li Shimin is not too worried. Because the workers who produce it also have to be searched, it is impossible to carry the steel out. And the entire production and operation must be in the steel workshops established by the government in advance, so that those businessmen will not be able to make any waves.

If the government absolutely has done something that is not good for the government, then they can be kicked out at any time, because the ownership of the steel mill is still in their own hands, and they are not afraid of turning the sky upside down. Li Shimin was also amazed by the idea of separating ownership and management rights. After all, in this era, ownership and management rights are actually integrated, and no one has ever thought of being able to separate. But if Chen Fei did this, it was tantamount to reviving everything. The government guarantees that it has the final decision, but does not interfere too much in daily behavior, which is equivalent to revitalizing a steel workshop, and this model can be considered in the future.

"After that, other industries of the imperial court, such as the official fields of the imperial court, and even pastures, as well as various official industries under the Taifu Temple, can they also be the same?" Li Shimin asked.

Chen Fei immediately said: "The emperor is wise! ”

Li Shimin's ability to draw inferences from one case is still good, and hearing this method of separating ownership and management rights, Li Shimin thought that other government industries can do the same. In fact, there were many so-called "state-owned enterprises" in the Tang Dynasty, and these places were directly managed by officials. If the officials are allowed to manage directly, the management efficiency can only be said hehe. However, for the sake of safety, the government can only reduce production efficiency and ensure that it belongs to the government. However, Chen Fei put forward this idea of separating ownership and management rights, which made Li Shimin's thinking suddenly clear, and he suddenly felt that things could still be done in this way. In this way, the flexible management of private businessmen, coupled with the government's guarantee of ownership and final adjudication, is not afraid that businessmen will be able to turn the sky upside down.

"Alright, I agreed. The next step is to organize your people and find merchants who are willing to contract, so that you have to increase steel production to the point where you can keep up with ordnance production. Otherwise, the production of ordnance will be delayed, and that will not be good. This is related to the great cause of our crusade against the Turks, and it must not be taken lightly. Li Shimin said.

Li Shimin's current main concern is to crusade against the Turks, so everything else can be slowed down. (To be continued......)