In the conference room, Zuo Xiang Li Shanchang and all the ministers have already arrived.

Zhu Yuan came to his right head and saluted Lao Zhu with the ministers, and everyone sat down.

The theme of today's meeting is to completely finalize the first "three-year plan", and when several Zhongshu auxiliary officials distributed a thick stack of basically determined three-year plan grass, Lao Zhu still did not turn to the topic for a while, and talked about the matter of the Mingzhou Yinghai Division: "Everyone also heard the Mingzhou report this morning, and there is another matter, Li Tai, the deputy envoy of the two Huai Salt Transport, impeached the Mingzhou Yinghai Division for selling a large number of salted fish and disrupting the salt affairs...... Yuan'er, you also tell us what you think, so that this matter can be settled, so as not to waste any more time?"

Lao Zhu said this, and Zhu Yuan knew that there was such a play this morning.

However, Zhu Yuan had really thought about this matter before, and after sorting it out a little at the moment, he said: "Ancestors, and you, the salt and iron monopoly system has been tried since the Han Dynasty, and one of the iron has changed many times in the past dynasties, but this salt matter has been more and more grasped by the imperial court, but the problem is ...... In fact, they couldn't grasp it tightly, resulting in huge wealth caused by salt in all dynasties, such as the Huangchao at the end of the Tang Dynasty, who was also a salt merchant, and once caused chaos in the world."

Zhu Yuan said this, and in the conference room, everyone faintly guessed the attitude of the young man Pingzhang.

It's just that it is inevitable to think that someone and Fang Guozhen ...... The relationship is still good, but ...... It's a sad feeling.

Zhu Yuan is just talking about things.

Of course, it's not that I didn't expect Fang Guozhen, and even, there is Fu Shou, a salt merchant who is attached to Huagao but has been trying to please him. However, some major matters involving the country's fundamentals should still be said, and we should not scruple so much.

After all, it is now the founding of the country, and it is precisely the founding of the country that has the opportunity to implement not many things at the minimum cost. If you don't do it now, after a generation or two, all kinds of intertwined and deep-rooted colors, and it will be even more difficult to do something.

After a slight pause, Zhu Yuan quickly continued: "Therefore, my attitude is very simple, the salt policy that has been inherited for thousands of years must also be changed, and it is a big change. In the past, salt was a necessity for the people's lives, and people couldn't do it without eating salt. In the future, with the advent of the new era, salt will not only be necessary for the people's lives, but will also become an industrial product that is needed in many industries, and the consumption will increase significantly, such as ...... The need for salt in order to deal with the catch of the fish. But that's just the most basic need."

Li Shanchang still couldn't hold back in the end, and interjected: "It's easy for Pingzhang to say, this salt policy involves a salt tax of millions of yuan every year, and you can't just say that you will lose it."

Zhu Yuan looked at the other side with a smile: "Zuo Xiang, I also remember, last year...... The imperial court collected a total of 1.37 million yuan of salt tax, and with the increase of our Ming territory, according to the current system, in a few years, there should be about 2 million yuan. However, does Zuo Xiang know what the maximum salt tax was during the Song Dynasty?"

Li Shanchang paused, but still shook his head.

This...... The old yellow calendar is over.

Who knows?

Zhu Yuan said: "In the Song Dynasty, the salt tax could be up to 17 million yuan!"

Crowd: "......"

Lao Zhu knew this number, Zhu Yuan had mentioned it earlier, but when he listened to it now, he was still inevitably touched.

Mainly, as it was said at the time, in order to make up for the lack of national use at the end of the Song Dynasty, the salt tax was continuously raised until it reached an astonishing level of 17 million guan. However...... Own Ming ...... At the end of the period, because of the rules set by his ancestors, he could not flexibly raise the salt tax in order to save the emergency, so that he ...... Just say that death is death.

Zhu Yuan also quickly continued: "Therefore, when I said that the salt policy should be relaxed, the first thing that came to everyone's mind was that the salt tax would be reduced, which is not right. As long as the salt policy is properly adjusted, I believe that the Ming Dynasty can not only supply the people with cheaper salt, but also increase the taxes that the imperial court can obtain. On the other hand, I have already described some of the prospects of the industrial age, the new era, there will be many new industries rising, which also means that not only will the proportion of agriculture in the national economy be reduced, but the salt industry will ...... It will also be dispensable in the future. Salt is a necessity for the people, and I hope it will return to the ranks of the simplest necessities, cheap and universal, instead of always worrying about how much to collect from the people."

meeting

There was a moment of silence in the room.

After a while, Lao Zhu spoke: "Yuan'er, don't talk about this first, just talk about it...... Do you have any ideas on how to change it?"

Zhu Yuan nodded: "Ancestor, to put it bluntly, in fact, I still refer to my "economic science", I said that the operation of a country, fundamentally, is nothing more than "production" and "distribution".

The study of economics is also the study of economics.

Everyone in the conference room couldn't help but think of the "production chapter" of "The Science of Economics" that they had read more than once recently.

Now, it's clear, and there's the "distribution chapter" after that.

Distribution.

After a little pondering, it really feels ...... Not a good word.

Zhu Yuan has continued: "The two fundamentals of economic science, "production" and "distribution", are both aimed at promoting the long-term and stable continuation of a country. Two things, the better the court does, the longer the national honor will be. The salt policy, however, is also a subdivision of the national economy. Beginning with the "salt and iron monopoly" in the Han Dynasty, the purpose of the salt administration was mainly to provide tax revenue for the imperial court. However, after the reform, I hope that the new salt policy should be more beneficial to the country and the people, in short, so that the people can get more benefits from it, and the country will get more benefits from it."

This time, everyone was lost again.

Or......

Pretend to be a lost lake.

Zhu Yuan smiled and said, "Ancestor, everyone, you should hear it. This is "good for the country" and "good for the people", how can there be the best of both worlds? No, there is. Some people gain, some people will suffer losses, and the losses are ...... I don't beat around the bush, I'm a salt merchant. In the Han Dynasty, the earliest salt administration, from production to sales, was all government-run, but later, generation after generation, gradually relaxed, until now, probably the model of "civil system, official revenue, commercial transportation, commercial sales", to put it bluntly, the official only played a coordinating role between salt farmers and salt merchants, and by the way collected salt introduction fees and some commercial taxes. I have also learned before that compared with the official sales price of 10 taels of silver and one salt citation, that is, 30 wen per catty, the imperial court can only get 6 yuan of silver from it, which is equivalent to a 6% tax rate...... Even with the addition of the commercial tax of 30 and 1, the comprehensive tax rate is less than 10%, which is too little."

Giving everyone a little time to digest, Zhu Yuan continued: "It just so happens that I have been inquiring about tea recently, and the tea tax rate of our Ming Dynasty is even lower, compared to the tax rate of about 30% in the Song and Yuan dynasties, we only charge two or three hundred wen for one tea, which is just like a joke. Well, don't be in a hurry to refute it, I know that the problem is that no matter how low the tax rate is, it often does not benefit the people at the bottom, and those who get big profits are basically businessmen in the middle. In contrast, if this part of the tax revenue can be nationalized...... Let's just say that the "three-year plan" we are going to discuss today, all kinds of projects that benefit the country and the people, all cost money, and as long as the imperial court collects taxes, as long as they are used well, they are actually "taken from the people for the people", and it can form a virtuous circle for the country to continue to move forward."

After Zhu Yuan finished speaking, the conference room was quiet for a while.

Each one has a lot of thoughts.

"Didn't you say Yanzheng, why did you run the tea?"

"Salt merchants, tea merchants...... I'm afraid I'm going to be unlucky."

"I don't understand much, do you?"

「……」

Lao Zhu regretted it a little, and he should have taken a pen and paper to write down what his baby twenty-third grandson said.

Zhu Yuan waited for a short time, and then spoke again: "Why did you talk about tea again? In fact, the nature of salt tea is similar. Speaking of my specific thoughts, referring to the fundamental principles of "production" and "distribution" in the "Science of Economy", we can establish "Daming Salt Industry Group" and "Daming Tea Industry Group", well...... This is just an example, and the specific operation needs to be carefully considered, and then, through the two major business groups, the official operation of the salt and tea industries will be strengthened. In this process, what the imperial court has to do is not only to grab profits from it, but to "promote production" and "regulate distribution", to promote production, that is, to promote the production of more private salt, and no longer the kind that began in the Song Dynasty, in order to ensure the price of salt, to ensure taxes, and to distribute salt production capacity according to official statistics of the population every year, this kind of "counting oral salt" is really quite a scoundrel. My idea is, for example, that the more salt there is, the more the people have

Cheaper salt can also be used to process more pickled food, which can be stored for a long time, and in the most difficult winter, more bites can be eaten, and perhaps some people will starve to death. If there are fewer people starving to death, the country will be more stable. This is the need to promote production. Or, there's another example that I just recently discovered. Regarding tea, the tea tax in the Song Dynasty reached a maximum of 7 million yuan, but the tea industry was still thriving. By the time of the Yuan Dynasty, the highest tea tax was about 250,000 ingots, equivalent to about 3 million yuan, but because the tax was too high, from the tea farmers to the people were overwhelmed, which led to the downturn of the entire industry and produced a vicious circle, do you know why?"

If there was no Zhu Yuan's previous narrative, everyone might not know.

Right now......

Probably understandable.

Zhu Yuan also revealed the mystery: "According to the data I collected, the reason is also very simple, in the Song Dynasty, the highest tea output in the country could even reach 250 million catties. When it came to the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan court was not good at encouraging the people to produce, and as a result, the annual tea output, according to many data, was not even 100 million catties, which was more than half compared with the previous dynasty. As a result, the tea tax of the Yuan Dynasty was less than half of that of the Song Dynasty, but it had overwhelmed the entire industry. The reason behind this is also very simple, it is still necessary to "promote production". That's the lesson I'm going to learn. For all walks of life, we compare them to pieces of big cakes, and only when we first strive to make the pieces of big cakes bigger, then whether it is the court or the people, can there be more things to share."

The scene was quiet again.

Li Shanchang looked at the young boy opposite who was obviously still childish...... This, such a knowledge...... How can it be a little teenager?

Lao Zhu, who was at the top, had already found a blank piece of paper and solemnly wrote down eight words: promote production and regulate distribution.

[In view of the general environment,

I plan to draw it on the wall and think about it all the time.

Well.

and handed it over to his son, pondering and understanding together.

Zhu Yuan has not finished speaking, so he continued: "Let's talk about "adjusting distribution", the "distribution" article of economics, I have not finished writing yet, but next year...... As you can see, let's talk about it briefly...... Taking the "big pie" as an example, one of the problems is that if we try to "promote production", even if we make the "big pie" bigger, if it is not well distributed, the people will not be able to benefit from it, and even if they cannot even maintain basic food and clothing, then the big pie will be meaningless. The result of the matter, just like the ancestors and you rose up more than ten years ago, everyone can't live anymore, so they can only rise up and change the dynasty. I say this, but also hope that the ancestors, as well as everyone, we must take caution, compared to the hardships of fighting the country, it is not easy to sit in the country. However, what we have to do is very simple and difficult, that is, to make the "big pie" bigger and divide the "big pie" more evenly."

This time, it was Lao Zhu who answered: "Yuan'er said this, you have to listen carefully. Don't think that the current wealth is long-lasting, when the Yuan room laid down the country, he must also think that his family can last for a long time, and as a result, the country is only a hundred years. Think about it a hundred years from now, the grandchildren you can see now may still be alive, if we don't do a good job, the world will be chaotic again, don't say anything about wealth and wealth, I'm afraid that incense will not be able to continue."

Lao Zhu's tone was serious, and everyone got up one after another and said yes.

Zhu Yuan had to get up, salute, sit down again, and said: "Let's talk about the idea I just thought, "Daming Salt Industry Group" and "Daming Tea Group", I will make the reason simpler, not to mention the similar or start-up "Daming Iron and Steel Group", it means that the state, there is already a relatively successful "Mingzhou Marine Development Group", this year, I have heard a voice more than once, is the Yinghai Division too good to the subordinate fishermen, is it to build a house, and it is a high salary, after the end of a season of fishing and flooding, There will also be a number of rewards based on the results. But...... These are actually a kind of "distribution". Give more to the people, so that the people are rich and healthy, and in exchange for it, it is still the national glory of the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, what the imperial court gave was not subsidized by the imperial court from other industries, maybe there were some at first, but it was only for a year

In the meantime, everyone has seen the output of the Mingzhou Camp Sea Division, not only to support themselves, but also to support the army. In the future, the Yinghai Division will continue to contribute more to the imperial court while ensuring that the lives of the subordinate fishermen continue to be better, and I just talked to my ancestors, just the output of the Yinghai Division, which is planned to reach 20 million quintals in 10 years, can be equivalent to another Ming grain tax. With these resources, we can invest in other walks of life, continue to "promote production", continue to "regulate distribution", and form an endless virtuous circle, circulating an unprecedented prosperous era of the Ming Dynasty that lasts for hundreds or thousands of years!"