Prime Minister of Great Qin

Chapter 88 The Temptation of Monopoly! (seeking subscription)

The next day.

It was already dawn.

Ji Heng got up from the table sleepily.

I trimmed up a bit, heated up the leftover food from yesterday, and dealt with it like that.

Then he leisurely inspected the vegetable seedlings in the yard.

It rained and it was fine.

The sky seemed to have been washed by water.

Very clear.

The weather is getting colder.

Ji Heng also began to prepare for the winter.

Just as he was busy for a while, the sound of thin rope footsteps sounded outside the house.

There was a bang on the door.

"The door is not locked." Ji Heng's voice came out leisurely.

The two figures entered the courtyard one after the other.

Fusu made a bow and said: "Fusu has read "Guanzi" several times in the past few days, and has a certain understanding of the economic policies promoted by Guanzi, but there are still some shortcomings in understanding, so I came here specially this time. Ask Mr.

Ji Heng wiped his palms with a coarse cloth, and said indifferently, "There's no need to be so polite, everyone just gets what they need."

"Since you've read "Guanzi", how do you think we should 'grab money'?" Ji Heng took over the jug, sat on his exclusive reclining chair, and picked up Fusu with great interest.

Fusu's face was calm, and he said calmly: "Guan Zhong was born as a merchant, so he is more sensitive to money and food. The 'Guan Shan Hai' he proposed, that is, the method of monopolizing salt and iron, is also useful for Da Qin."

"The people are powerless without salt."

"Salt is a necessity of life, you can eat less, but you must eat."

"And today the price of the next rock salt is 100 yuan."

"Except for special circumstances, most grains are only thirty or so dollars."

"When it's cheap, it only costs [-] yuan."

"Compared with food prices, salt prices are significantly higher."

"It is impossible for the public to buy one stone at a time, and only spend two stones to buy one liter to meet their daily needs."

"Among the merchants' profits, the imperial court takes most of it. Excluding production and transportation expenses, merchants can earn at least a dozen or twenty yuan of profit for a stone of salt."

"It doesn't look like much profit at first glance."

"However, there are 2000 million people in the world."

"After a year of accumulation, merchants can at least make millions of dollars from it."

"In the past few days, the court is conducting a 'plan'. I also went to visit and have a certain understanding of the land rent in the world. There are 52 hectares of land in Qianling County, and the land rent is converted into coins, which is less than 27 yuan. "

"The annual net profit of these big salt merchants is comparable to the land rent of more than a dozen big counties."

"This is not counting the salt price fluctuations. If the salt price fluctuations are included, the merchants will only benefit more. In my opinion, Daqin should follow Guan Zhongzhi's method and make salt and iron government-run. This will not only increase fiscal revenue, To a certain extent, it can also reduce the price of salt and benefit the people.”

"Reduce the burden on the people."

Fusu looked generous and eloquent.

Ji Heng nodded, then shook his head again, and said deeply, "Fusu, when you were looking after the pipe, did you ever think about it, people will be addicted to money coming in too fast?"

heard.

Fusu was taken aback immediately.

Ji Heng sat upright solemnly, and said with a sneer, "Looking at your appearance, I probably haven't thought about it."

Fusu nodded honestly.

Ji Heng said: "You have such an understanding of the salt and iron franchise right now, you must have seen the price increase mentioned in "Guanzi Haiwang"."

"The country of ten thousand times, with a population of tens of millions, the salt price only needs to be increased by 6000 cents, and [-] million yuan can be easily collected. It's just such a huge profit, how can people not be tempted?"

"Is Daqin short of money right now?"

Fusu's complexion changed, as if he guessed what Ji Heng wanted to say, he said, "The imperial court monopolizes salt and iron, and can get a lot of money through it, and will never raise the price."

"Absolutely?" Ji Heng laughed loudly, and said with deep eyes, "Fusu, you underestimate the temptation of 'paying tax in price'."

"As you said earlier, people are powerless without salt."

"Salt is a necessity for the people."

"So no matter how high the price of salt is, people will definitely buy it."

"At most, I usually eat less, and I don't eat when I have nothing to do."

"If the imperial court has no financial problems, it may not raise the price. However, once there are financial problems, the temptation of salt and iron is so great, who wouldn't want to take a sip?"

"And it's tax-infused."

"Compared to the land tax increase, the increase in the price of salt is obviously easier for the public to accept, and it is also easier to collect money."

Hearing Ji Heng's description, Fusu had already anticipated that scene, and his face immediately turned pale.

With a pale face, he gritted his teeth and said, "Daqin won't do this."

Ji Heng sneered and said, "No way?"

"I think it will!"

"You can't even imagine that by raising the price by one or two yuan, you can easily increase the temptation of tens of millions of coins."

"At that time, all people thought was to take a puff and take another puff."

"Even if you know that the bottom will be sucked dry, or even sucked to death, you still won't restrain yourself, because the bottom is just a number to the imperial court."

"Do you care about the life and death of numbers?"

Ji Heng sighed lightly.

He is very familiar with the 'salt monopoly'.

In the last life, after the implementation of the "salt monopoly" in the Tang Dynasty, the price of salt increased by a maximum of 37 times.

A bucket of salt rose abruptly from 10 renminbi to 370 renminbi, which eventually led to people being banned, and Rong Zhen also frequently appealed.

No one can resist the lure of salt monopoly.

Getting money too fast is addictive. Once addicted, it is very difficult to quit. Even if you quit, it is easy to relapse.

The Han and Tang Dynasties will not work.

Qin Chao also couldn't do it.

Once interests are involved, don't try to challenge human nature.

Otherwise, you will only get a bloody lesson.

There was dead silence.

Fusu's face changed again and again.

Finally, he sighed and didn't speak again.

He was powerless to argue.

What Ji Heng said may be right. He can guarantee that he will not raise the price, but can he guarantee that others will not raise the price?Can you guarantee that the first emperor will not raise the price?
Can't do it!
Even he himself may not be able to do it.

Hu Hai looked around and said in confusion, "According to what you said, this is not acceptable, and that is not acceptable, so what should I do?"

Ji Heng glanced at Hu Hai, and said in a deep voice: "The salt and iron franchise proposed by Guan Zhong can indeed make a lot of profits, but once the management gets out of control, it will become a profit for the people, which is not a good thing for the country or the people. The imperial monopoly is definitely not acceptable."

"Merchants are used to sell goods."

"The imperial court cannot overstep the authority!"

"Otherwise, under a high degree of centralization, a slight loss of control will cause disaster."

"Continue to use merchants, what's the difference between that and the current one?" Hu Hai was puzzled.

Ji Heng said:
"There are naturally differences."

"It is not suitable for the imperial court to monopolize salt and iron, but it is feasible to monopolize mountain and sea resources."

"in short."

"Government property, government revenue, business luck, traders!"

"The imperial court completely controls the salt and iron resources, but is not responsible for selling them, and only focuses on collecting taxes."

Fu Su frowned, and said doubtfully, "This is not much different from the production and sales of merchants. The imperial court still needs to invest more manpower and material resources. The imperial court has no spare capacity to produce salt and iron right now."

Fusu's eyes were full of doubts.

Ji Heng lay slowly on the reclining chair, and did not answer immediately, but asked, "Fusu, in your opinion, what is the significance of the country to the people?"

heard.

Fusu frowned.

He had never thought about it before.

Ji Heng's sudden question really stopped him.

"What does the country mean to the people?" Fusu lowered his head, frowning in deep thought.

a long time.

He tentatively replied: "Stable and peaceful?"

Ji Heng shook his head.

"Fair and just?" Fusu asked again.

Ji Heng continued to shake his head.

After being denied one after another, Fusu simply didn't answer, and said with a wry smile, "I don't know."

"Dare to ask, in the eyes of Mr., what does the country mean to the people?"

(End of this chapter)