Merchants are starting to make a fuss again?

Zhao Zhen couldn't help but think of the first year of Tiansheng, when Li Xianchu mentioned the money law, and the opposition of the government and the opposition was loud.

In addition to many officials in the imperial court, the tea merchants boycotted the market, and the border officials were boiling, so that the people were dissatisfied, and Liu E, who was still in power at that time, also had to remove Li Jian to calm the anger of the government and the opposition.

That was twelve years ago, when Zhao Zhen was only fifteen years old, although he didn't know the specific situation, but with the years of pro-government, he already knew the root cause.

Whatever money law has caused to the emptiness of the treasury and the inconvenience of businessmen, it is all fake, and it is nothing more than a matter of profit, and their interests are not satisfied.

Now it's starting to come again.

Zhao Zhen's face was like sinking water, and he was about to summon Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and others to come over to discuss the matter, but after a little hesitation, he remembered what Fan Zhongyan said to him, so he said to Cao Xiu: "I know, you go first and find out the details." ”

"Yes."

Cao Xiu bowed down and retreated.

Later, Zhao Zhen summoned Wang Shouzhong, the eunuch of the head of the Inner Servant Province, and said to him: "Summons Yan Shu over." ”

"Yes."

Wang Shouzhong immediately went to do it.

Yan Shu was talking to Zhao Jun in the backyard at this time.

After he returned, he went to the household department for a short time, explained some things, and then changed shifts with Fan Zhongyan.

The main thing is that Zhao Jun's eyes are getting better and better day by day, and he is about to recover, so he must stay by Zhao Jun's side and stare at it for a long time to prevent accidents.

At present, Zhao Zhen, Lu Yijian and others have gradually focused on government affairs.

What should have been set out from Zhao Jun has been set out, and they already basically know the future history, so they no longer need to listen to lessons from Zhao Jun, and it is time to go back to the court to deal with state affairs.

About two quarters of an hour later, Yan Shu entered the Chongde Hall and said to Zhao Zhen: "Official, what's the matter with summoning the ministers?" ”

Zhao Zhen stared at him for a while, staring at Yan Shu with a little hairiness in his heart, which made him quite puzzled: "Official, is there something on the minister's face?" ”

"Nope."

Zhao Zhen shook his head and said softly: "There is news from the city that the merchants plan to run on the Jiaozi affairs together, but now more than 500,000 guan in the Jiaozi shop are used to purchase grain and grass, and there are still 80,000 guan left as the principal. ”

Yan Shu smiled bitterly: "There are more than 30,000 yuan." ”

"Uh."

Zhao Zhen felt a headache.

The Great Song Dynasty had a perennial fiscal deficit, and the income could not make ends meet, and every time at the beginning of summer or just after winter, it was the time when the treasury was at its poorest.

Because the Song Dynasty continued the Tang Dynasty's two-tax law, the field tax was collected on the first day of May in the summer and the first day of September in the autumn, and the payment time was two and a half months, and the other was three and a half months, and it took a long time to send it to Bianliang.

Therefore, during the period when the field tax was uniformly sent to Bianliang, the treasury was often able to run rats. Even if the tax revenue is just sent to Bianliang, it will be spent quickly, and there will not be much saved.

According to the History of the Song Dynasty, the income reached 126 million guan in 1049 AD, and there was not a dime left after the expenditure.

Although the commercial tax is paid all year round, most of the commercial tax actually has to be intercepted and used for local purposes, such as the "History of the Song Dynasty" said: "The household department rules the world and the wealth is also endowed with money, and now the Quartet has not entered the palace for a long time, and it is often used cheaply for the state and county to prosper the army."

Basically, not only the commercial taxes are used for military expenditures, but most of the summer and autumn taxes received from the state treasury will also be sent to the border passes of the Northwest River and the barracks of the forbidden army across the country, and the remaining money will be used to pay the salaries of officials in the world.

When the two gold-swallowing beasts of redundant soldiers and redundant officials are filled, the court will basically run out of money.

The businessmen obviously also found the right time, knowing that the treasury was empty at this time, and took the opportunity to make trouble.

Seeing that Zhao Zhen's face was not good-looking, Yan Shu said: "The official family doesn't have to worry too much, the coins deposited by Bianliang into Jiaoziwu are only more than 500,000 yuan, most of which are not deposited by tea merchants, and the treasury is more than 30,000 guan plus 80,000 guan principal, which should be able to be redeemed." ”

Zhao Zhen said: "It's not just Bianliang tea merchants, now is the time when spring tea is on the market, Shuzhong tea merchants have sent tea from Chengdu Fu Road to Bianliang, they learned that Bianliang opened Jiaozi Shop, and deposited a lot of money in Chengdu Mansion, Bianliang tea merchants have joined forces with them, and these people are in big trouble." ”

"The minister wants to know how many money orders these people have in their hands?"

"Some time ago, Shuzhong played the surplus, and at the same time synchronized the Jiaozi stub with Bianliang Jiaoziwu. There are 1.27 million guan deposited over there, if you only count the tea merchants, plus the Bianliang tea merchants, it is estimated that the Jiaozi bills in their hands are not less than 300,000 guan. ”

"300,000 guan?"

Yan Shu frowned and asked: "Chengdu Mansion has so much money now, but Yuanshui can't save the near fire, more than one million guan will be transported to Bianliang, I'm afraid it won't work in March or May, and the exchange of bills of exchange will be delayed for ten days at most, and it seems that the imperial court will raise 300,000 guan for preparation." ”

"300,000 is not a big deal, there is always a way to think of it, and it is a big deal to transfer it from my internal funds. I'm worried that this is just the beginning, and there's even more turmoil to come. ”

Zhao Zhen groaned and said: "This year, the timing of the opening of the Jiaozi Affairs and the Qian Law is not bad, and if the Jiaozi Affairs is not opened to the whole country, the tea merchants from all over the country cannot deposit money in the local area and then withdraw money from Bianliang." But there are more than just tea merchants in Chengdu Mansion, if they say that they will move the rest of the merchants to withdraw money together, then the reserves that Bianliang needs to prepare will exceed one million yuan, and it will not be able to raise so much money in a short period of time. ”

"It's really a big problem."

Yan Shu lowered his head and pondered for a while, then raised his head and asked, "Official, what is this about...... Do you want to ask Zhao Jun? ”

Zhao Zhen was unhappy and said: "This Jiaozi is to ask Zhao Jun what he came up with, and if something happens, he will only look for him, so what's the use of raising so many scholars in the Great Song Dynasty?" I also hope that after his eyes are healed, he will look at my Great Song Dynasty, and look at me and my monarchs and ministers, which will not be as unbearable as he said. ”

Yan Shu smiled bitterly: "But if you don't ask him for help, what should the tea merchant do?" Chen felt that even if they didn't unite all the merchants in Chengdu Mansion who had saved money in Jiaozipu, they only needed to buy the Jiaozi in their hands, and Jiaozipu would be difficult. ”

Chengdu Jiaozi was established at the earliest, so the merchants there basically recognized each other that Jiaozi had a monetary value. When trading, it is not to use Jiaozi to go to Jiaozi to withdraw money, but to buy and sell directly with Jiaozi.

Bianliang has now also recognized Jiaozi, and the merchants on the rest of the road are not easy to say, but the merchants of Chengdu Fulu will definitely admit that Jiaozi can trade with each other.

Compared with after arriving in Bianliang, it is more convenient to go to Bianliang to pay for the goods and queue up to get the money, wait for a period of time to get the money, and then start to purchase the goods.

Therefore, Yan Shu believes that as long as the tea merchants who want to prevent the court from seeing the money law are not stupid, they will definitely use this method.

At that time, Bianliang Jiaoziwu was run on and bankrupt, and seeing that the money law had lost its source of funds, it could only be miscarried in the end, which would become another big victory for the tea merchants against the imperial court policy after the one in the Tiansheng year.

Zhao Zhen pondered for a moment, raised his head and looked at Yan Shu, looked at him for a while, and then said softly: "I heard that Duke Lu, Duke Song, Xia Xiang, and Jia Xiang have quite a lot of family resources?" ”

Yan Shu was stared at by Zhao Zhen a little hairy before, and now when he heard this, he looked at Zhao Zhen in surprise, but after a little hesitation, he still said, "Yes." ”

"Fan Xiwen came to visit Lu Xiang and Song Xiang before."

Zhao Zhen changed his words and said expressionlessly: "I want to ask, which side is the Tongshu Guild on?" ”

Yan Shu only felt that his cold hair stood on end, and his heart suddenly sank, and then said: "Minister..... Where Your Majesty is, there the ministers are. ”

"Is this the honest words of Uncle Tong?"

Zhao Zhen asked.

"Yes."

Yan Shu said seriously: "Eating the king's luck and sharing the king's worries is the duty of a courtier." ”

Zhao Zhen smiled and asked, "Don't be so nervous, I just want to ask Uncle Tong, Lu Xiang, will they really agree to depose the Menyin officials?" ”

"No, it won't."

This time, Yan Shu answered much faster.

He knew which side he was on.

The problem facing the Great Song Dynasty now is that a large number of officials occupy the imperial court, and they form an absolute power.

Because there were more than 30,000 scholars in the entire Northern Song Dynasty, there were only 117 jinshi on average every year.

During the Renzong period, there were only about four or five thousand people who passed the imperial examination, so where did the more than 40,000 officials of the Renzong Dynasty come from now?

Most of it is through the shade of the door.

Fan Zhongyan wanted to depose these door-shadow officials who had seven-eight-tenths of the power in the court, even if Lu Yijian agreed, the rest would definitely not agree.

Zhao Zhen said lightly: "Since that's the case, take a look at this." ”

As he spoke, he pointed to the slash on Fan Zhongyan next to him.

Yan Shu walked over and picked up the chopstick, looked at it slightly, and said in amazement: "This ....."

"Tell Lu Xiang about this, he probably knows what to do."

After Zhao Zhen finished speaking, he thought for a while, and added: "Don't tell him that I want him to know." ”

Yan Shu was quite shocked, and then immediately understood what Zhao Zhen meant, and secretly said in his heart that he was really a companion like a tiger, even if he was benevolent through the ages, there was no lack of emperor's skills.

But he reacted quickly and immediately said, "Yes." ”

"Alright, you go down."

Zhao Zhen waved his hand.

"The minister has retired."

Yan Shu walked backwards and left.

When he came out of the study, Zhao Zhen propped his hands on the table and rubbed his temples.

Although it is beneficial to the country and the people, things will definitely not be as easy and smooth as Zhao Jun said.

In many major national events, it is definitely not enough to make decisions just by patting the head, just like the Qingmiao Law, how to look at how it is a good policy, but in the implementation of the people, it directly harms the people.

Therefore, Zhao Zhen is not unmentally prepared, and has the determination and perseverance to face any test.

It's just that what he didn't expect was that the businessmen could think of a means of resistance so quickly, and after only two months of opening Jiaozifu, they were already planning to hollow out Jiaozipu through a run and force the imperial court to give up the money law.

Although the first wave of attacks was not too powerful at the beginning, if most of the tea merchants united, it would still be enough for the imperial court to drink a pot, and these could not be guarded against.

Those officials in the imperial court do have big careers, but just in case, they still have to think of some other way.

Well....... It seems that we have to go to the queen.

Zhao Zhen thought to himself.