"Your Majesty, after preliminary discussions between me and those businessmen, as long as we can hand over these steel workshops to them to contract, then they promise to increase steel production by as little as three times and as much as five times. In short, the growth of steel has skyrocketed, and it can gradually keep up with our ordnance production. So ask the emperor to decide whether to give the steel mill to the merchant to contract, and then we just have to buy the steel at the right price. Chen Fei said.

And Li Shimin was shocked when he heard that steel production had skyrocketed by three to five times. Because this has changed the business model, why has the production speed increased greatly? Although steel was not as important as it was in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it also determined the number of cold weapons. Only if there is enough steel can more cold weapons be crafted. In ancient times, steel was absolutely important, so of course Li Shimin knew this. Now Chen Fei has just changed the mode of production and operation, which has increased the steel output so much, which is equivalent to a lot of improvement in the country's national strength.

Li Shimin then asked: "What about the cost of steel?" How does the price of our purchase compare to the cost of production in the past? ”

"Your Majesty, it's less than half of what it used to be." Chen Fei said.

"What? What's going on, it's actually half lower? This is impossible, even if we give it to those merchants, they will not reduce it by half! From the ore to the transportation here, this money cannot be saved, so how can it be saved in half? Li Shimin asked.

Chen Fei shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, you only calculated the cost of materials and transportation, but you didn't calculate the management cost. If we leave it to the officials, then we will bear the burden of the officials who are responsible for iron smelting. And my Datang officials' salaries are actually relatively high, and they, the seven-grade officials, can get a huge amount of money, plus a lot of Yongye Tian, which should actually be included in the cost of steel. Moreover, the biggest problem of government management is that there are too many people who eat empty salaries. The ancients said that one person attained the Tao and the chicken dog ascended to heaven. Officials from all walks of life have stuffed their relatives and friends into these workshops. After my investigation, the people who used to eat empty wages in the steel workshop, or grind foreign workers, accounted for more than 30% of the steel workshop, and these people's wages still had to be paid, so this is also a loss out of thin air. But how could the merchants keep these millers or wagekeepers, who wished to use one as if they were two, so that they could save a great deal of wealth. ”

"In the end, it's the cost of time. Originally, these steel mills were managed by the government, and they only produced for five hours a day. Because this is based on the time when the official goes to work. However, when the merchants came to produce, then under the condition that our Datang guaranteed to buy all of them, they were willing to divide them into two shifts, each shift produced for six hours, so that almost twelve hours a day could be produced, which was equivalent to more than doubling out of thin air. Finally, there is also a problem with the original government management method, the original craftsmen are all paid a fixed salary, and there is not much gap, so they do more and do less. There is no gap, they are naturally not motivated. Now that the merchants are in charge, they can first of all work more and get more, so that the enthusiasm of the craftsmen to work is increased. Your Majesty, do you think they will work harder? ”

Chen Fei explained to Li Shimin a lot about the benefits of merchant contracting, so it is not impossible to increase the output by five times on the whole. And Li Shimin also felt that those government-run workshops were actually very problematic, because in the final analysis, those leaders of these government-run workshops were also officials, and their flexibility and motivation to work as officials were far less than those of businessmen. And to be an official and to be a businessman. Those were two creatures entirely. Officials pay attention to doing more wrong, doing less wrong, and not doing well. This attitude made them interested in reforming the inside of the workshop. They have little enthusiasm for increasing productivity. They are afraid that if they fail to reform, they will be held responsible. But businessmen are different, as long as they can increase production, improve quality, and bring benefits to themselves, then they will be willing to try, even if there is a certain risk. Businessmen are willing to take risks, officials don't want to take risks at all, and there is a big gap in this. On the whole, it is not a myth that the same workshop is managed by a merchant and is managed by a merchant.

"Hey, Chen Fei, do you say that the imperial court is really not suitable for directly operating the industry? Isn't it possible to protect the safety of the imperial court and not let these properties fall into the hands of some unscrupulous people? Li Shimin asked.

Chen Fei can see that Li Shimin is actually very contradictory now, on the one hand, the sharp rise in output and quality makes Li Shimin very tempted. But on the other hand, he is also afraid that those things related to the national economy and people's livelihood will flow into the hands of ordinary people, or be controlled by some people with bad intentions. This is actually the most contradictory idea of an emperor, on the one hand, the country is strong, but on the other hand, it is also facing certain risks, which is the most difficult to choose.

"Your Majesty, in fact, the best way is the separation of ownership and management rights that I mentioned before. If the government does not directly manage these properties that belong to the government, but hires some people with management skills and clean wealth to help the court manage, this is of course the best. And the court should not interfere too much, as long as it is responsible for the final ruling, and the supervision of those who manage in our place. We don't interfere in ordinary affairs, unless it's a big deal, so that although we can't guarantee absolute security, we can take care of both as much as possible. Chen Fei said.

In fact, the professional manager system proposed by Chen Fei is later the professional manager system, which is because the boss who has ownership is not necessarily able to manage the industry well, and separates the ownership and management rights, so that talented people can manage it, but they will not lose their own industry. And Datang can do the same, as long as he has the power of final judgment and supervision, then ordinary people can't make any waves.

"If you let me think about it, if it is only a steel workshop, it can be based on the urgency of the need for ordnance, but if all the industries of the imperial court are managed by merchants, I am afraid this is a bit difficult. Let me consider whether I want to implement this in all the imperial estates. Li Shimin said. (To be continued......)