Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 39: On Salt and Iron (Part [-])
Gao Pragmatist explained terms such as "Gross National Product", "Productivity", "Production Efficiency", "Production Loss Rate", and "Exchange Rate" with great effort. The era of the exam.Fortunately, Gao Gong is indeed a master of practical learning, capable of handling the world, and has been working in the center for many years, and he really has extraordinary skills in financial management-although most of them are outdated ideas, he is really good at accepting new ideas. Slowly, I finally figured out a bunch of nouns Gao Yushi put forward.

Then Gao Wu turned the tables and brought up the biggest difference in the financial systems of the Song and Ming dynasties: "So, Sanbo, you can see how big the gap is between the industrial and commercial taxes in the Song Dynasty and ours in the Ming Dynasty! Xining was ten years old in the Northern Song Dynasty. The total tax revenue is 70 million guan, of which the agricultural tax is 160 million guan, accounting for about 910%, and the industrial and commercial tax is [-] million guan, accounting for about [-]%. Even if we don’t care about the two dynasties The difference in the exchange rate of silver and money, and the difference in productivity between the two dynasties are not calculated. From this ratio alone, we can see the big problem. How much industrial and commercial tax did I collect every year in Ming Dynasty? The comparison is simply chilling! Three Uncle, you are a master of practical learning, and many data are much clearer than that of my nephew. My nephew will not ask other questions, but just ask: My Daming actually collects salt and tea taxes that go to the treasury of the Ministry of Households every year. , Song, how many times less?"

Gao Gong remained silent with a sullen face, but his breath became heavier and heavier. After a while, he suddenly stood up and paced back and forth quickly, his boredom was beyond words.

Gao Wushi didn't press for questions or say anything, but just drank tea silently.During this time, the steward of the inner palace looked around the door of the study, Gao Wushi glanced at the tea tray in his hand, shook his head slightly, and waved his hand lightly at him.The old man who was in charge was Gao Gong, he glanced at his master and knew that he would be scolded if he went in now, he nodded gratefully and retreated quietly.

I don't know how long it took, anyway, Gao Wushi had already finished his tea before he heard Gao Gong suddenly say, "Have you been thinking about these things for a long time?"

Gao Wushi noticed that his third uncle's voice suddenly became much hoarse. When he looked up, he realized that Gao Gong's brows were deeply wrinkled, and his expression was so serious that it seemed that water could drip out at any time.

Gao Wushi sighed, the same serious expression as Gao Gong's was not commensurate with his childish face: "Do you remember? Since you returned to Xinzheng last time to supervise your nephew's studies, your nephew has been pestering you to ask some economic questions. Among them, you once mentioned that in a certain year, the treasury of the household department received 310 seven taels of silver. But, do you know that before this, my nephew had heard my mother accidentally mention It is said that the Zhang family in Puzhou adds up to a gross profit income of about 460 million taels of silver every year..."

"boom!"

Gao Gong slammed his fist on his desk, and said bitterly: "These salt dogs...salt merchants! They hurt the public and private interests, so much!" Gao Gong originally wanted to scold "salt dogs", but when he thought of Gao Pragmatic's relatives, The mother was from the Zhang family in Puzhou, a great salt merchant family, and she forcibly swallowed back half of the word "dog".

"Third Uncle, my nephew is not speaking for my uncle's family, but my nephew still has to say...you scolded the wrong person."

"Huh?" Gao Gong suddenly turned his head and stared at Gao Wushi: "Have I scolded the wrong person? As you said just now, my Ming court is a dignified household treasury for the prime minister's money and grain, with an annual income of only 300 million taels. A salt merchant earns more than the imperial court in a year! How absurd this is!"

Facing Gao Gong who was on the verge of fury, even the most important ministers in the court would back off, but Gao Pragmatically was different. He still calmly looked at the slightly red eyes of the third uncle because of his anger, and said neither humble nor overbearing: "The gross profit of salt merchants is naturally high. But my nephew has a few questions I have to ask."

Gao Gong gritted his teeth, and coldly popped out a word between his teeth: "Say!"

"The first question is: the salt merchant himself has no official position. Even my uncle Fengpangong (Zhang Siwei's name Fengpan) has never handled the vulgar goods of the saltworks since he was elected, but entrusted him My younger brother took care of him, and from the time he passed the Jinshi examination until he was promoted by you, none of the official positions he held had anything to do with the affairs of the salt field. There are also many people, so, where does the theory of harming the public and benefiting the private come from?"

Gao Gong didn't answer.

"The second question: Where did the country's salt tax system come from? Sanbo, you know a hundred times better than your nephew. Could it be that the salt merchants set it up by themselves? In the end, the salt merchants were only forced to accept it. They are amazing. Practitioners under the Guochao salt tax system, not the framers of the system, even if the profit distribution is unreasonable, does this responsibility still go to them? To put it bluntly, they are just ancestors who have a good vision and discovered the Guochao salt tax Business opportunities under the system, that’s all.”

Gao Arch sniffed harder, but still didn't answer.

Gao Wushi didn't care about it. Instead, he stretched out three fingers and continued: "Third, you only see that the gross profit of the salt merchants is quite high, but you don't know how much the salt merchants have invested."

Before the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty’s regulations on salt merchants were that salt merchants transported grain to the border, exchanged salt at the border, and then returned to exchange salt for sale.Salt is a consumable item, and salt merchants have to invest a huge amount of money to ensure the purchase and delivery of food.Therefore, although the business of salt merchants is very profitable, the risks are also huge. In addition, no matter who transports grain to the border, they can get salt, so the pressure of competition is also great.

However, during the period of Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty, a reform of salt import was carried out. From then on, salt import was no longer a one-time consumption, but could be hereditary. border.The impact of doing so on the country is naturally "the bad side of the border".After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the combat effectiveness of the frontier army declined, which was one of the reasons.

"Huh? Devotion?" Sure enough, Gao Gong was full of sarcasm, and sneered: "I only heard that the wealthy salt merchants spent extravagantly. I once heard that a rich salt merchant invited guests to dinner. The top-quality noodles were just one dish. For mutton, five hundred sheep are used, three hundred sheep are used for the middle-class table, and one hundred sheep are used for the low-class table. Why are there so many? It is not because thousands of people are invited to dinner, but when they eat, only Cut off a small piece of meat from the mouth of each sheep, and throw away all the rest. The reason is that "the beauty of the sheep is all in this, and the rest is fishy and smelly, and it is useless." By investing, do you mean these?"

Gao Yushi sent Gao Xiaozhuang to investigate the prices before, and happened to know the price of mutton and mutton oil. He knew that if Gao Gong's words were true, it would be an astonishing luxury, but his expression remained unchanged: "Nephew doesn't know if this is really the case, But even if this happened... Sanbo, with your wisdom, can't you see why they behave like this? Don't they behave like this all the time?"

All the time, of course, it is nothing more than showing one's own financial resources in front of certain officials, and then promising to "repay with all one's heart", so as to ensure that one has long-term possession of Yanyin and monopolizes this daily money-making business for a long time.

Naturally, Gao Gong can understand a little bit, but with his position, thinking of this, what he is most concerned about is no longer the extravagance of salt merchants, but the chronic problem of collusion between officials and businessmen.The so-called "investment" of salt merchants by Gao Pragmatism is naturally self-evident.

Gao Ge's complexion immediately became worse by three points.

　That... Do you have any recommendation tickets?
　　


(End of this chapter)