When Zou Shiming and He Yugui came to visit Daxingtaifu, their expressions were extremely excited, the Iron Blood Army controlled Yangzhou and Suzhou and other places, for them, it was great news, and the sensitivity of the businessmen was innate, otherwise they would not have been able to earn so much silver.

Ma Haoxuan has become the envoy of Shannan Dongdao, and it is Kan Zeyu who accepts Ma Haoxuan's control of businessmen, Zou Shiming and He Yugui learned the news, and immediately visited Kan Zeyu, and it happened that Kan Zeyu also wanted to grasp the situation of many businessmen through them, so they quickly became familiar with each other.

In fact, Kan Zeyu has long known that Zou Shiming and He Yugui have made a lot of efforts in the grain transportation of the Iron and Blood Army, and have been praised by Gao Chibang and others.

In addition, the food relief matters in Jiangnan East Province, Jiangnan West Province, and Huainan Province are also thanks to the numerous business transportation organized by Zou Shiming and He Yugui, so that the food problem can be well solved and the people in these places can be stabilized in the shortest possible time.

The government's taxation of commerce and trade is very strict, which is the basic guarantee of the government's income, but strictly speaking, it is still very easy for merchants to make money, after all, they are dealing in daily necessities, and the transactions with Tubo, Huifu and other places are also controlled by merchants, and such transactions can often earn a lot of silver.

It is also because of the support of the government that commerce and trade in the south are very prosperous, and most of the merchants in the Tang Dynasty, including many merchants in the north, have moved to the south to do business, and even the Turks, who are far away from the south, have also come here to do business, after all, materials such as tea and silk are needed by the Turks.

Li Rupei has already noticed this problem, the development of commerce. It will inevitably promote the emergence of some big businessmen, these big businessmen will inevitably have political appeals in order to continue their business for a long time, in order to be able to earn more money, hoping that the government can introduce some policies that are conducive to their long-term development, and when the business and trade develop to a certain extent, commercial capital will be able to influence the political situation, which is the inevitable development of capital, even if Li Rupei is a person who crosses, it cannot avoid the emergence of such a situation. But he can prevent it before it happens.

The specific approach is two points, the first is to strip the wealth of some big businessmen through the government to use it for the construction of people's livelihood, and the second is to restrict the emergence of commercial oligarchs and not allow the situation of commerce and trade to influence the government.

To do this, it is necessary that the government cannot be too closely connected with the merchants, and there can be no so-called power-for-money transactions, once the government is monopolized by gold and silver. Reduced to the status of gold and silver services, then the commercial oligarchy will inevitably appear.

Of course, it is not yet such a situation, after all, Datang is still an agricultural society, and all commercial transactions. First of all, it is based on agriculture, and the wave of industrialization has not yet appeared, and it will not appear in a short time.

So the situation of controlling commerce and trade, from the current situation. Much easier.

The power of the government is incomparably strong, and commerce and trade are in a weak position in comparison. Once the government turned its face and confiscated the merchants, the merchants did not have any power to resist, and it was because of the frequency of such situations that the commerce and trade of the Tang Dynasty gradually weakened.

For example, during the Huangchao rebellion, the army occupied Guangzhou and slaughtered nearly 100,000 foreign merchants in the city in one go, resulting in the almost interruption of maritime trade.

This is also the reason why the government supports the development of commerce and trade.

However, the monopoly situation must be limited, and it may not be possible to limit it completely, but the government must be prepared for such a rainy day, which is to take precautions, in short, everything is for the power of the central government, and everything is for the stability of the political power.

Facing Zou Shiming and He Yugui, who were smiling and respectful, Li Rupei also had a smile on his face.

"The two of you have worked hard during this time, especially in helping to transport grain and grass, and have made a lot of contributions, I heard that your family has children who participate in this Enke exam, do you think they can go to high school?"

Zou Shiming and He Yugui both stood up at the same time and saluted Li Rupei with fists.

Zou Shiming spoke.

"The prince has won the award, support the government, transport grain and grass, these are what He Yugui and the small should do, many businessmen have been supported by the government, once the government has something, everyone should also contribute, as for the small family children to participate in the Enke exam, this requires them to play their own ability, He Yugui and the small came today, is a special trip to visit, a few days ago, Kan Shilang has already said to the small, about Xiangyang, Liangzhou, Yangzhou, Suzhou and Hongzhou parallel development of the proposal, the small one thinks it is very good, the small ones are also willing to contribute to this. ”

After Zou Shiming finished speaking, He Yugui continued to speak.

"The small one also thinks the same, during this time, the small one has moved the shop to Xiangyang, as for the business in Luoyang, the small one has completely given up, and the small one thinks that it must be in Liangzhou, Yangzhou, Suzhou and Hongzhou and other places, all the shops are opened, and at the same time other powerful businessmen are mobilized to open shops in various places."

Li Rupei nodded slightly, Shang Jia is smart and knows what to do, so he doesn't need you to say more.

"Your move is the greatest support for the government, there is also an idea, that is, to unify the operation of salt and iron, the previous operation of salt and iron, are directly responsible for the government, this practice is very inappropriate, resulting in the flood of private salt, the government is simply unable to control, on the one hand is the flood of private salt, on the other hand, the people can not afford to eat salt, this situation must be changed, so a certain decision to let many businessmen to operate the business of salt and iron, this is originally a business matter, the government in the hand, it is not good."

Zou Shiming and He Yugui's eyes lit up instantly, if they could get the right to operate salt and iron, it would mean a lot of silver, how could they lose such an opportunity.

"However, the operation of salt and iron is one of the main sources of tax revenue for the government, since you let the merchants operate, it can't be messed up, not that all merchants can operate casually, but also need to be approved by the government, and at the same time you need to pay a lot of money, so that the government believes that you have the strength to operate, so that you will not operate private salt, disrupt the market."

Zou Shiming and He Yugui nodded again and again, although they boasted that they were good at management, but in front of Li Rupei, they did not dare to have the slightest arrogance, Li Rupei's views and understandings were much stronger than them, and many things were not what they could think of at all, if Li Rupei interfered in business, I am afraid they would not have the opportunity to make a lot of money.

"This salt and iron must be monopolized, monopoly and government to operate, are two different concepts, monopoly is on behalf of the government to operate, with the permission of the government, issued a certain license after the operation, of course, the amount of tax is not the same, to be able to bear enough taxes, for example, salt and iron for a period of unsalable, but the tax still needs to be paid, in this case, no ability of businessmen, can not be operated."

"Since it is a trade, then there are losses and gains, it is impossible to always make money, if this is the case, there will be no big businessmen, for example, the founders of your family, Zou Fengchi and He Mingyuan, are able to earn a lot of treasures with their extraordinary knowledge, so that the family has maintained to this day, and many businessmen who do business at the same time with them have long been missing."

"I want you to make money, but you also have to take into account the operation of the government, if the government escorts you, but it is difficult to maintain and operate itself, this so-called protection is difficult to establish, the meaning of a certain is that the government and you must profit from it, and the people must be willing to pay money."

"The meaning of this, you have to understand it yourself, if you can understand it clearly, I will instruct Kan Zeyu to discuss with you the transaction of monopoly salt and iron, if you can't understand it, don't rush to accept it."

"As for the participation of the children of your family in Enke, now that Southern Dao is short of talents, if they are not able to go to high school, you can also find Kan Zeyu and talk about their situation, as long as the government has the opportunity, it will definitely be considered."

After Li Rupei finished speaking, Zou Shiming and He Yugui didn't dare to speak casually.

Li Rupei's practice of beating a handful and touching a handful made them dizzy, and even more frightened, one thing they know very well, the so-called salt and iron franchise is actually a businessman to help the government earn silver taels, but businessmen can also make huge profits from it, but there is a risk in this, that is, the people must be able to afford to eat salt, otherwise who will buy salt to eat, how can businessmen make money, this is not ordinary.

Helping the government make money is not an opportunity that ordinary businessmen can get, Li Rupei's so-called win-win words have a profound meaning, and Zou Shiming and He Yugui certainly understand.

After a short silence, Zou Shiming spoke.

"The meaning of the prince, the little one understands, and the little one is willing to undertake the salt and iron monopoly, and ensure that he pays taxes truthfully, and does not owe a penny of silver, even if he sells his property, he must pay the full amount of taxes."

Zou Shiming had just finished speaking, and He Yugui also spoke.

"The small ones are willing to undertake the monopoly of salt and iron, and guarantee with their lives that they will not default on taxes."

Li Rupei stood up and laughed.

"The two of you said it too sadly, and they still haven't been able to fully understand the matter of the salt and iron franchise, but you have such confidence, you are very happy, and you discuss with Kan Zeyu about specific matters, the salt and iron franchise can help you earn a lot of silver taels, but then a certain will put forward some requirements, these words will wait until you really start to specialize in salt and iron." (To be continued......)