After entering the Kaibao Year, Tokyo's annual import of various grain materials from outside has basically stabilized at around 7 million shi. Even if it fluctuates, the change will not be much. In his early years, Emperor Liu suffered from food shortage, so
Developed the habit of storing food.
In the entire Gyeonggi region, in the large and small warehouses distributed at various ferry crossings and transportation thoroughfares, the imperial court always maintained a grain reserve of about 20 million dan. This amount is not small, and can satisfy the people of the Gyeonggi region for at least three years, and
In fact it takes longer.
According to Emperor Liu's original plan, it was required to store it for at least ten years for state use, and he was working on this goal for a while. However, he later found that the management costs were a bit high, so he had to lower the requirement. At the same time, he also allocated money from the official warehouse every year.
Food is put into the market for renewal.
Therefore, with the resources in the hands of the imperial court, no matter how high the food price is, it can always stabilize and adjust it. This is the reason why it has been sitting back and watching the rise in food prices.
Starting from April, in Tokyo alone, the imperial court put two million stones of rice, millet, wheat and other food materials on the market in batches. The effect was immediate and had been flying over the heads of the people of Tokyo for several months.
The price of grain was immediately suppressed, like mercury falling on the ground. Within half a month, it dropped from sixty cents to thirty-one cents.
However, under the deliberate control of the imperial court, it could no longer be lowered. Obviously, thirty cents was the price of food that the imperial court considered appropriate. For most people in Tokyo, this was still a high price. After all,
Compared with the initial price, it has nearly doubled, but compared with sixty cents, it does not seem so unacceptable.
But no matter what, after the imperial court took the initiative to calm down, the people's plight in Tokyo was finally alleviated. The people of the Han Dynasty, whether they were ordinary people in the city or rural people, had always been docile and easy to look forward to the harvest. As long as they returned
As long as they can survive, they can get by. As long as they are not forced into a desperate situation, there will be no major problems.
In this wave of skyrocketing food prices, the people represented by the two capitals are naturally suffering, but for farmers all over the world, it is nothing less than a blessing. At least, in the past six months, the same
The grain can be exchanged for more money. Under this premise, their lives can indeed be improved. With less grain to cover taxes, there will naturally be more for livelihood.
However, in this trend, it is obviously not the peasants who have grabbed the vast majority of the profits, but the exploiting classes such as the nobles, bureaucrats, and merchants who are weighing on them.
At least those merchants engaged in grain trade, transportation and related industries had a good meal and made a lot of money. In the past twenty years, Han Dynasty's commerce has become increasingly developed, but the status of merchants has not been substantially improved.
In addition, the imperial court harvested and squeezed from time to time, which also forced many businessmen to be more cautious while working hard to make profits.
Of course, this part mainly refers to those big merchants who are well-known and wealthy, and ordinary small merchants and hawkers cannot attract attention. However, merchants, regardless of size, in some industries, pay great attention to their own goodwill and behavior.
Especially in a business like food, which is related to the national economy and people's livelihood, few people dare to mess around. After all, there are too many people watching from top to bottom in the court, not to mention the Wude Department, the Imperial City Department, various agencies, and even the Ducha.
The censors of the imperial court would always give advice and hammer down any opportunity they had. As for the grain merchants of the Han Dynasty, they were so well-behaved only because of the harsh punishment methods of the imperial court. They had to be a little less greedy. Only in Tokyo
In the past, hundreds of businessmen were arrested, had their homes ransacked, and were executed for expropriating people's livelihood resources.
But this time it was different. The court's relaxed and even indulgent attitude was almost obvious and difficult for ordinary people to detect. How could those businessmen who were immersed in it not know about it.
Although it cannot be said that they were "ordered to raise prices," Tokyo's large and small grain merchants took advantage of this opportunity to boldly raise prices. Otherwise, with the normal supply of grain materials on the Tokyo market, even if wars and production cuts occur,
It is impossible for objective factors to show a soaring trend.
For a long time, under the suppression of the imperial court, low grain prices have allowed many grain and oil merchants to obtain only modest benefits. Even those large grain merchants can only maintain their operations by relying on their scale.
The meager profits once caused a large number of grain merchants to change careers. The increase of five cents per bucket of rice in the past twenty years was also to increase the enthusiasm of grain merchants, and the relaxation was just adopted.
However, no matter how hard the suppression was in the past, it would be crazy when it was released. The changes in food prices in the past six months have already proved this. The court's intentional indulgence, coupled with the crazy profiteering of the gluttons in the interest chain, jointly urged
This "grain price breakthrough" started.
Of course, food prices are only one aspect of it, and are accompanied by rising prices of various daily necessities, such as oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar. Compared with the rise in food prices, the performance of salt prices is even more severe.
Significantly.
By April of the 22nd year of Kaibao, the price of salt in Tokyo had climbed to 95 cents per bucket. Unlike the subsequent suppression of grain prices, after the rise in salt prices, there seemed to be no intention of falling.
During the mid-Tang Dynasty, there was a saying that half of the world's finances and taxes benefited from salt. But now, the Han Dynasty has really begun to wield the sickle and ruthlessly reap the benefits brought by salt affairs.
Due to these circumstances, a frenzy to buy supplies inevitably erupted in the Gyeonggi region. Although this put great pressure on the supply of supplies, it also allowed the imperial court to recover a large amount of copper coins.
No matter how much noise there is, it will eventually subside. With the promulgation of the imperial court's pricing guidance for various daily necessities, such a wave of price increases finally receded. After that, many people in Gyeonggi Province felt it firsthand.
, the cost of living has risen sharply, especially for the small citizens, life has begun to become difficult.
This "price reform" was basically carried out under the leadership of the Political Affairs Hall and the Financial Secretary. Although Emperor Liu had been paying attention to it, he never expressed his views and always maintained a default attitude. He did not intervene from the beginning to the end and just allowed it.
They act.
When problems arise, solutions must be found, and new problems that arise in the process of solving old disadvantages can only be left for later. When considering the immediate advantages and disadvantages, we always choose to pursue advantages and avoid disadvantages, or adopt practices that bring greater benefits than disadvantages.
This is what Emperor Liu has always advocated.
If we say that the prosperity of the Han Dynasty was based on a huge agricultural system in the past, and the imperial court maintained the prosperity of the Kaibao era by sucking the blood of farmers, then from now on, for a long time, the spearhead will be directed at the merchants and ordinary people in the cities.
As well as small handicraftsmen, part of the pressure borne by farmers in the past will also be transferred to urban people.
