Seeing that the overall atmosphere is a little more relaxed at the moment, I also gradually feel that the ministers have slowly adapted to my nonsensical style, after all, I am in charge of my territory, and the Great Song Dynasty as a whole is my master, if I want to completely change these scholarly and stubborn gentry class readers, I have to do the opposite, first of all, I must transform them ideologically, so that the importance of commerce can penetrate into their bone marrow, so as to work with me to transform this seemingly rich, empty Great Song Empire. In order to further increase the atmosphere, I asked: Ladies and gentlemen, when I was familiar with government affairs with my chamberlain a few days ago, I was still a little vague about the concept of the imperial court's buying system.

Cai Jingchang's Taibao Cai You immediately seized the opportunity to rush out of the queue and salute: Qi to the emperor, the lower officials are willing to explain the system of buying and fighting for the emperor in detail. When Cai You was young, he befriended the old man Song Huizong with his scheming, and then in order to compete for favor in front of the old man, he had a conflict with his father Cai Jing, and some people provoked it, so the father and son fell out of harmony and turned against each other. So far, Cai You has followed Liang Shicheng, who is known as the hidden appearance of the Beijing teacher, as a younger brother, and today he saw that everyone had left a deep impression on the emperor, and he was already ready to move, but he had no chance to perform, and now he finally had an opportunity that he knew, so he stood up without hesitation.

Seeing me smiling and nodding, Cai You cleared his throat and said: Since the period of my Dynasty Shenzong, the buying system has been very prosperous - for a while, businessmen often use "buying all over the world" to describe it, and there are quite complete procedures for buying and selling, from determining the bottom of the bid, announcing the bidding, to public bidding, government evaluation, winning the bid publicity, and then to the handling of the failed bid, there are procedures to go and laws to follow. Xiaguan took the official monopoly wine as an example, and reported the specific buying process to the emperor in detail.

There are three main forms of production and sales of commercial liquor in the imperial court, one of which is the land of the capital division, where the imperial court monopolizes the koji, and the main store (high-end hotel) buys koji from the government to make wine, and then sells it freely, because the price of koji has included taxes, and the imperial court no longer collects liquor tax from the main store. Second, in other states and cities, official brewing is sold by officials, and private brewing is prohibited. Third, the other counties, towns, and villages below allow wine farmers to brew and sell on their own, and for franchising, the imperial court collects their liquor tax, but as long as the liquor profits are slightly thicker, the government will try to change it to an official business.

The official brewing and official sale, although it can monopolize the profits of the wine, but when it is implemented, it is also full of drawbacks. First of all, the official brewing and official sales are inefficient, many workers are relying on the iron rice bowl of the official family to make soy sauce, and lack of motivation to control costs, after deducting the cost of workers and management personnel, there is little profit left throughout the year, and then the official brewing and official sales of the distillery is also very concerned about the quality of the wine, which causes many people to be reluctant to drink the official wine, so the imperial court ordered the distillery to be open to private individuals, which implemented the buying system.

Generally, the transfer of the management rights of government-run distilleries lasts for a period of three years, and after the expiration of three years, the imperial court will take back the management rights and re-auction them. However, the original contractor has the right of first refusal, and if the original contractor does not intend to buy again, or owes official money, the right to operate the brewery will be re-auctioned.

Before auctioning the right to operate a wine farm, the local government needs to evaluate the bottom of the "target", which is called the "standing price", that is, the reserve price of the right to operate the farm to be auctioned. How is this reserve price determined? One of the following principles will be adopted, one is to set the bid floor according to the market price, and the other is to set the bid floor according to the highest auction price in the past year. The third is to set the bid floor according to the next highest auction transaction price, the fourth is to set the bid floor according to the average auction transaction price in recent years, and the fifth is to set the bid floor according to the median auction transaction price in previous years.

After the bottom of the bid is determined, you can "make a list in the troublesome places" and "call people to buy", that is, post announcements on the main roads, markets, and downtown areas of various prefectures, counties, and towns, explaining which winery the government wants to auction, where it is located, and how much the reserve price is. The bidding method is as follows: the bidders add their own bids on the basis of the reserve price. The time limit for the government to accept bidding is generally up to three months, but not everyone can participate in the bidding, and the government has reviewed and restricted the qualifications to participate in the bidding.

If you are interested in bidding, you must go to the designated location of the government to participate in the bidding within the deadline. Bidding usually takes the form of "actual seal and submission", which is that the local government builds a batch of wooden cabinets in advance, locks them, and then sends people to the county offices under its jurisdiction to accept the bidder's bid. All merchants and citizens of the Great Song Dynasty who meet the bidding qualifications and intend to bid can go to the county government within the prescribed time limit, fill in their names, households, etc., the bidding price they are willing to pay, the mortgaged property, the name of the guarantor and their property status, and then seal them and put them into the wooden cabinet. This process is called "real sealing".

When the petition was sealed, there were officials guarding the wooden cabinet, and all the merchants who came to bid registered their numbers, names and time of submission, and made a register for archiving. One of the key factors in deciding whether or not to win the winery is the bid price stated on the paperwork. Bids need to be added to the reserve price announced by the government, and other bidders will also increase the price according to their own judgment. Only the highest bidder can buy the "target" (e.g., the three-year right to operate the winery) if the bidder is the highest bidder, because the government usually selects the winning bidder based on the principle of the highest price. Under the mechanism of actual sealing and submission, the bidder is determined to win, and will definitely form a trend of competing to add money, which depends on who pays more money, anyway, the one with the highest price wins.

If the bid is not high, it will obviously lose to competitors, but if the bid is too high, there is a risk that the gains outweigh the losses, and even if the bid is won, it may not be profitable in the future. In short, how to bid is a great test of the wisdom and rationality of the bidders. Not all people have enough wisdom and rationality, and there are many people who are unable to make a profit during the contract period because they buy the market at a high price, and they lose their old capital, and even not only bankrupt themselves, but also involve the guarantor. But after all, doing business is risky, and profits and risks exist at the same time, so it's no wonder that the government is not amazed.

As soon as the bidding period of one to three months expires, the bidding will be closed, even if the price is higher afterwards, it is useless. Then the county government transported the wooden cabinet containing the purchase letter back to the state capital, and the state government went to preside over the unpacking. The process of unpacking and evaluating bids must be public, with state government officials present to supervise, first submit the documents, when the official seals, open the opening and sign the pledge, compare with the time, to the person who sells the highest price, and finally the person with the highest price will obtain the right to operate the auction.

If there are two people with the highest bid, priority will be given to the person who bids first. If the winning bidder temporarily repents and does not want to buy, 10% of the bid price will be confiscated as a punishment. After winning the bid, there is still a procedure to go from actually obtaining the right to operate the winery, which is to post a public notice to facilitate the joint supervision and reporting of violations of laws and regulations by the government and the public.

After completing the publicity procedure, the winning bidder pays the contract fee and mortgage property to the government according to the purchase price, and this contract fee can sometimes be paid in installments. When the government receives the money from the winning bidder, it will pay the winning bidder a post, which is the franchise license of the auctioned workshop.

The payment means that the purchase procedure is completed, the government and the buyer formally establish a contractual relationship, and the buyer obtains the franchise right of a certain workshop, and this right cannot be deprived during the validity period of the contract, even if someone else pays a higher price, the government cannot delegate it.

Of course, in the process of the government auction workshop, there may also be a situation where no one cares. If the reserve price set by the government is too high, or if the profitability of the auction is too poor, it is obvious that the merchants will not have much enthusiasm to participate in the bidding, and if no one bids within the time limit, the bid will be lost. In response to the situation of failed bids, the government will hold an auction again, after the first failed bid, lower the bottom of the bid, re-announce the bidding, if the bid is failed again, lower the bottom of the bid again, announce the bidding, if the bid is failed many times, the bottom of the bid is reduced by more than 50%, it is necessary to file with the Criminal Division, if the reduction of 80% is still no one to buy, the workshop applies for closure.

After speaking, Cai You saluted again and said: "Your Majesty, this is the imperial court buying system known to the lower officials, please correct the emperor and the ministers." After Cai You's explanation, I felt extremely amazed and admired by the Great Song Dynasty's purchase and bidding system for dealing with the transfer of state-owned assets, which was undoubtedly the most advanced bidding system in the world before the 12th century, and even from today's point of view, it is impossible to find out the major institutional defects. This is very humane, with rigorous links, and one link after another, its design is eye-popping, fully embodies the principles of openness, fairness and justice. This Great Song Dynasty is really a magical and mysterious era.

The other ministers also nodded after listening, saying that Cai You's explanation was easy to understand, and even Wang Di and others who were standing behind also nodded. Immediately everyone cast envious eyes, I also have a little change in Cai You's opinion, the previous ignorance and no skills, only know that the image of the sycophant has been improved a little, it seems that everyone has their own points and strengths, the key is whether they can use people well, this is the way for the king, besides, to climb to the current position among hundreds of millions of people, they are all a little bit of real ability, not just flattery. Another reason may be that he was influenced by his father Cai Jing since he was a child, and he naturally understands more and more thoroughly about the economic affairs of the imperial court than others.

Thinking of this, I also had the heart to say to Cai You: Cai Taibao's explanation made me refreshed, compared to the crepe of the inner officer, it is indeed much better, it seems that Cai Taishi has not slackened in educating his children, very good, very good. I also know that there is a conflict between their father and son, so I also want to take the opportunity to match, after all, the family and everything is prosperous, after all, the court still needs them to assist in handling court affairs, or when employing people, not to mention that I am not a faint king, I have to squeeze the oil out of them.

As soon as Cai You heard my praise, his heart blossomed, and he finally left a good impression in the emperor's heart, which can be regarded as a safe landing and the attention of the new emperor. Then he looked at his father Cai Jing with the rest of his eyes, and saw Cai Jing's eyes slightly closed, as if he was thinking, at this time their father and son were indeed silent and sound.