Seeing Na Lu Bin come in, all the dignitaries in the hall immediately looked at him nervously.
"Amitabha."
Lu Bin clasped his hands together and performed the Buddhist ritual, and then said: "The young monk made some inquiries outside and learned that not long ago, a group of businessmen bought all the salt from private salt dealers at a price of seventeen or eighteen cents per catty.
Yes, the whereabouts of all those salts are unknown now. If nothing unexpected happens..."
"This must be Wang Jiefu's doing."
Pang Minsun gritted his teeth and said, "I really didn't expect that the prime minister would secretly purchase private salt in the name of the imperial court."
This meeting really wronged Wang Anshi. The emperor bought it, not Wang Anshi.
Xu Ji frowned and said: "This is really bad. Now all the salt in Kaifeng Prefecture is in the hands of the imperial court. Even if we buy those salt banknotes and exchange them for salt, it may not be of any use."
These people are all as smart as monkeys. After the salt banknotes came out, their first reaction was to try to squeeze the imperial court, because they knew that the official salt was lacking and was not enough to meet the needs of the entire Kaifeng Mansion.
Moreover, the current price of salt banknotes is not very expensive. The price on the secondary market is less than 40 cents. Even if they buy them all and then exchange them for salt, they will not lose money.
The key lies in private salt.
If they buy the private salt again, while running on the court, all the salt will flow into their hands.
So they quickly went to find those private salts.
"exactly."
Lu Bin nodded and sighed again: "Now all the salt is in the hands of the imperial court, and the laws are promulgated by the imperial court. At the same time, the imperial court still has enough money and food in its hands. This situation is not optimistic."
They have food and currency in their hands, but they only have no salt. If they cannot influence the court's decision-making in terms of policy, they will not be able to control the situation at all.
Fu Chengshou sighed: "Now they are hurting people by selling salt banknotes at such a low price. Even if we want to object, there is... no reason!"
If the imperial court raises the price of salt, they can object, but they are powerless to do the opposite.
Lu Bin said: "Now everyone is exchanging coins for salt banknotes. A large number of coins have appeared in the market. Our strategy has failed. Fortunately, we have not lost much, so we might as well stop here."
"no!"
Xu Ji frowned and said, "If we give in here, the imperial court will definitely impose higher taxes on us."
Pang Minsun immediately asked: "Does Judge Xu have any countermeasures?"
Xu Ji said: "We can pay for the salt banknotes."
Fu Chengshou frowned and said: "The imperial court has enough salt, so there is no point in purchasing salt banknotes."
Xu Ji said: "But the imperial court stipulates that salt can only be bought with salt banknotes. As long as the salt banknotes are in our hands, the people will not have salt banknotes to buy salt. This will inevitably cause public resentment."
Lu Bin said: "But if we do this, the market will be filled with a large amount of currency, which will inevitably cause the price of coins to fall further, which will cause us to lose more, and the court can sell salt banknotes again."
Xu Ji smiled and said: "If too many salt banknotes are sold, there will not be enough salt to exchange. Moreover, we don't need to spend much money, haven't you noticed?
Recently, fewer and fewer people go to salt shops to exchange salt. This is also the reason. The court stipulates that only salt banknotes are allowed to buy salt. However, salt banknotes cannot be distributed to every common person. The price of these salt banknotes will inevitably increase.
If the price rises, everyone will keep it in their hands and act according to the opportunity. We only need to buy a portion of the salt banknotes to prevent even a single salt banknote from being seen in the market."
Everyone looked at each other.
Fu Chengshou said: "We have come to this point, so we can only continue and try Judge Xu's idea. Anyway, the current price of salt banknotes is still lower than the previous price of salt. It really doesn't work. We can still do it then.
Exchange salt banknotes for salt.”
At this point, what the two sides are fighting for is not the immediate profits, but power.
What power?
That is, can you tax us?
The weapons of both sides are actually the people. On the one hand, they want to arouse public resentment, and on the other hand, they want to appease the people.
Xu Ji also saw it very clearly. There was a big problem with this regulation of the imperial court. Salt banknotes were not directly linked to copper coins. The units of salt banknotes were all brand new, not money.
Most of them were directly linked to salt. A dime of salt banknotes could be exchanged for a pound of salt, but the court paid the royal police and imperial guards 25 cents of salary.
It doesn’t mean that everyone can exchange money directly.
As a result, as soon as it was sold, it immediately became thirty cents, which shows that it is not linked to coins.
And people have to exchange salt banknotes to buy salt. They can't control the price of salt, but they can control the price of salt banknotes.
As long as the price of salt banknotes is increased and people cannot exchange for salt, this policy will fail.
Anyway, they now have a lot of coins in their hands, so they start to use the coins to buy salt banknotes in the market.
Just as it happened, Sinong Temple also implemented the liquidation method in a low-key manner and began to purchase lower-priced grain and some goods on a large scale.
At present, the price of coins is still high, and the price of goods is relatively cheap.
Both sides took action at the same time, and the coins poured into the market like a torrent.
In fact, there is a lack of money in the market, but there are too many problems at once, double attacks, and looking around, it seems that they are all money.
This directly caused the price of coins to start to fall and the price of goods to start to rise. In fact, it cannot be said to be an increase. It just returned to the previous level, and there was no significant increase.
The reason is that the coins are put into the salt banknotes.
Then the price of salt banknotes is very scary, rising to sixty cents.
This makes the royal police mad. They have to wait before taking action. Isn't this ridiculously profitable?
They deducted twenty-five cents from their salary and sold it for thirty cents. If they waited until now to sell it, they would earn thirty-five cents from one salt note.
My intestines were turned green.
A small boat went down the Bianhe River Street from west to east.
There was a young man standing on the boat, it was Zhang Fei. Looking at the prosperous scene of Bianhe Street, he glanced slightly, then turned his head to look at Li Bao beside him, "How much is the price of salt banknotes now?"
Li Bao said: "It has stabilized at sixty cents."
Zhang Fei chuckled and said, "Then let's sell the salt banknotes in the hands of the officials for fifty-eight cents."
Li Bao asked curiously: "Why not sell it for sixty cents?"
Zhang Fei said: "There is not much time left for us, so we have to sell it quickly. We can earn forty cents per pound of salt. What else do you want?"
All the money from Sinong Temple was used to buy official salt, while the private salt was paid by the officials themselves, because it was impossible for the Third Division to pay for it. At that time, the emperor purchased the private salt at a price of eighteen cents.
The inner treasury is the inner treasury, and the central government is the central finance.
The officials sold the private salt to the court and turned it into official salt, but Sinong Temple paid in salt banknotes, and Sinong Temple could not afford to buy the private salt.
This part of the salt banknote is still in the hands of the emperor.
At that time, Zhang Fei said with a smile, if the emperor doesn't want to provide the money, I can do it. He is playing financial war and allowing this kind of secret operation. It is a dead profit and it is impossible to lose money.
The emperor secretly began to sell the salt banknotes in his hands in various counties.
Anyway, some stupid guy will take over.
...
Xiangguo Temple.
"Abbott, we have to stop immediately."
Lu Bin anxiously advised the abbot Huiming: "Nowadays, there are many new salt coins on the market. This may be a bottomless pit."
Huiming asked: "The imperial court issued so many salt banknotes, how could there be so much salt?"
Lu Bin sighed: "The problem now is that we don't know how much salt the imperial court has in its hands, nor how much salt money the imperial court has issued. It's like a blind man fighting against a master, how can he win?"
.”
Huiming frowned and said, "But they..."
Lu Bin immediately said: "They are them and we are us. This must be a trap. We have to stop quickly. Besides, the price of this salt banknote is already high enough."
"Amitabha."
Huiming sighed and said, "Okay, you can figure it out yourself."
"yes."
...
Zhang family!
"Hey, you! This house is really nice!"
Sima Guang, who was visiting his new house for the first time, looked around, nodded frequently, turned his head to look at Zhang Fei, and said with a smile: "Many officials have been in office for decades and can't afford this house, but you have only been in the capital for two years."
You have purchased such a large property in three years. Everyone only sees your ability to litigate, but ignores your ability to make money. No wonder they are in such trouble!"
Zhang Fei smiled slightly and said, "Scholar Sima seems to have something in his words!"
While talking, the two came to a pavilion in the garden and sat down.
Qingmei immediately served them refreshments.
Sima Guang nodded slightly to express his gratitude. Like Fu Bi, this old man could be polite with his servants. Wen Yanbo was far behind them in this aspect.
After Qingmei went down, Sima Guang glanced at Zhang Fei and said with a faint smile: "The idea of that salt banknote is most likely your kid's idea."
Zhang Fei said in surprise: "Why is Bachelor Sima so sure?"
Sima Guang said: "Because if it is Wang Jiefu's idea, I will definitely understand what his purpose is."
Zhang Fei said hey: "I'm afraid this can't be used as evidence in court!"
Sima Guang looked around, "Is this a courtroom?"
"That's not true."
Zhang Fei shook his head, nodded and admitted, "Yes, this was my idea."
Sima Guang asked: "Do you agree that the imperial court will issue banknotes?"
Zhang Fei said: "I absolutely disapprove."
Sima Guang was stunned and said: "Really?"
"How dare Zhang San deceive Bachelor Sima."
Zhang Fei nodded, "Issuing banknotes is just drinking poison to quench thirst. There is no doubt that the imperial court will issue them indiscriminately. This is tantamount to plundering the people's wealth, and it will definitely make the people's livelihood miserable."
Sima Guang was dumbfounded.
This...isn't this my line?
He originally wanted to use these words to teach Zhang Fei a lesson.
result....
"If that's the case, why do you still come up with this idea?" Sima Guang asked curiously.
Zhang Fei smiled bitterly and said: "It's not all forced by them. If they succeed, the tax exemption will be completely over. Moreover, they have enough money and food in their hands. If we go head-to-head with them on these two points, even if we win,
It will definitely be a tragic victory, so in order to replenish the finances, the imperial court will definitely have to find ways to collect money, which will definitely increase the burden on the people."
Sima Guang stroked his beard, nodded and said, "That makes sense!"
He also understood this, so when Wang Anshi said that he would issue more coins, he could not object. He said with a smile: "Since you understand the righteousness, you will definitely not use these salt banknotes to plunder people's wealth."
Zhang Fei smiled and said: "Actually, salt banknotes are not banknotes, they are pure salt."
Sima Guang said in surprise: "Really?"
Zhang Fei asked with a smile: "How many copper coins does Academician Sima think this jiao of salt banknotes is worth?"
Sima Guang said: "Currently it is worth sixty cents outside."
Zhang Fei said: "But in fact, the salt banknotes were only worth twenty-five cents at first. It can be seen that there is no definite price for the salt banknotes and copper coins, but a dime of salt banknotes can be exchanged for a pound of salt. This salt banknote is just like a house.
The same thing can be used to store wealth."
Sima Guang listened thoughtfully, and his reaction in this regard was far less than Wang Anshi's.
After a while, Zhang Fei saw Sima Guang nodded slightly, as if he had figured it out, so he said again: "But it's only one step away from the coin."
"How do you say this?" Sima Guang asked hurriedly.
Zhang Fei said: "At present, no one exchanges salt banknotes for salt. Soon, the people will find that they can't buy a grain of salt now, which will inevitably cause public resentment.
At that time, the court will have two choices. One is to raise the price of salt, and then directly price the salt banknotes at twenty-five coins, because the court issued them at this amount at the time. If you want to use them for speculation, no one can blame you.
In this case, salt banknotes will become paper currency.
Second, continue to maintain that a dime of salt banknotes is equal to a pound of salt, while raising the price of salt, opening up coins to buy salt, and stipulating that salt banknotes can be exchanged for an equal amount of salt at any time. Salt banknotes will become a way to store wealth.
jar."
In fact, he was far more worried about banknotes than Sima Guang. After all, he knew what the consequences of issuing banknotes would be, and they would definitely happen, so there was no need to doubt it.
However, there is indeed a shortage of money, and the opponent is pressing harder and harder. The only card in the court's hand is salt.
He finally chose a compromise method, which was to securitize salt banknotes, which still kept a certain distance from currency. However, because the price he set was very low, it was very simple to cross this hurdle and directly monetize it.
Although the court has not set a clear price, what is being sold is twenty-five cents. If you want to sell it to sixty cents, then who can blame you? Now everyone can't buy salt. Either they need to use coins to buy salt again, or they can't buy salt.
Monetization of salt banknotes.
Sima Guang asked: "Then what did you tell Wang Jiefu?"
Zhang Fei said: "I am telling the truth. It will depend on the situation. If they still insist on fighting to the end, they can directly price it at twenty-five cents and sell it to everyone. In that case, it will be equivalent to sixty cents.
The price is twenty-five cents worth of banknotes."
Sima Guang took a breath of air, this move was really cruel.
Zhang Fei added: "But I would rather suggest Wang Xueshi to choose the second option. If they do this, although they will lose less money, they can use salt money to check them. If they dare to create a money shortage crisis again,
If they threaten the court, the court can use salt money to counter them."
Sima Guang asked: "Did Wang Jiefu agree?"
Zhang Fei said: "Scholar Wang really wants to issue banknotes, but even if he chooses the second option, salt banknotes still have the purpose of banknotes and can be used for exchange, but the price must be negotiated by both parties.
If the price of salt banknotes is fixed, it will be difficult to use this to check them. Salt banknotes are equal to coins. So if there is a food crisis, salt banknotes will definitely not be as good as coins. At the same time, the court cannot control illegal salt for the time being.
Once the salt banknotes are not recognized by private salt merchants, big problems will arise."
Sima Guang nodded and said: "But based on my understanding of Wang Jiefu, even if he chooses the second option, he will still continue to issue salt banknotes."
Zhang Fei said: "I think so too. Therefore, Bachelor Sima must find a way to control the production of salt banknotes. The Ordinance Department of the Second Prefecture can only propose it, but it must be reviewed by Bachelor Sima."
Sima Guang said: "I'm afraid this will be difficult."
Zhang Fei smiled and asked: "Does Bachelor Sima know how many salt banknotes are currently issued?"
Sima Guang was stunned, shook his head and said, "I don't know."
Zhang Fei said: "Now those people have suffered this loss. They don't know how many salt banknotes the imperial court has issued. When Bachelor Sima mentions it, the ministers will definitely support Bachelor Sima."
Sima Guang said in surprise: "Did you leave this to me specially?"
Zhang Fei nodded and said: "This is actually a rogue method. The imperial court uses its absolute control over salt to operate secretly and make profits. There are no rules at all. It can only be used to deal with some rogues."
This kind of trick is actually robbery. Who has ever played tricks on the imperial court? It is all done behind closed doors. At present, the imperial court does not have any system to regulate these behaviors and cannot supervise them. It still needs to be improved.
It is difficult to simplify the current system. For the time being, we can only rely on the relationship between Wang Anshi and Sima Guang to supervise the salt banknotes.
Sima Guang just smiled slightly: "These words are also specially left for me."
Zhang Fei laughed a few times, and then said: "In addition, we must manage the salt policy well. If there are problems with the salt policy, there will also be problems with the salt banknotes, which will also cause a series of problems. To make good use of the salt banknotes, first of all
We need to improve the salt policy.”
Since salt banknotes are directly linked to salt, if salt policies are not improved, problems will definitely arise.
Sima Guang sighed: "This salt policy has changed again and again, but it has always treated the symptoms rather than the root cause. The main reason is the corruption of officials. Why is the price of official salt always high, and the price of private salt is so high?"
It spreads everywhere, and the reason is that there are huge losses in the middle.”
Having said this, he looked at Zhang Fei, "That's why I suggested that you go to the northwest to build the Public Security Bureau. If you don't rectify the official administration, it's impossible to improve the salt administration."
In fact, it can be seen from the salt policy that the problem of the Song Dynasty was never a policy issue, but a management issue. No matter how you change it, you will return to the original point.
We still have to start from the fundamentals. Wang Anshi, Fan Xiang, and Xue Xiang are all geniuses in financial management. The reason why they can't improve their finances is because of official governance.
Zhang Fei looked hesitant and said: "It's not that I don't want to go, but I have no background and no authority. What can I do if I go? And I also asked about Fan Xiang, the Shaanxi transfer envoy."
When he went to the local area to manage the salt administration, his adjutant was directly killed by bandits."
Sima Guang nodded and said: "That's what happened. In the end, it was Xianggong Bao who went to the local area to implement Fan Xiang's policy. But if you are willing to go, I will find a way to protect you and help you establish a
I'm so powerful that I won't let you go there with your bare hands."
Zhang Fei said: "If you can protect me, I can give it a try."