Five hundred and sixty-second section education marquis
So everyone focused their attention on the young master Ling Cenmai.
Although, everyone knows that this Shaofu Ling is now putting all his body, mind and energy into the preparations for the ‘Lingyan Pavilion’.
The entire daily work of the Young Mansion was handed over to the Young Mansion Supervisor below.
But the Shaofu Superintendent was obviously not qualified to participate in such an important meeting.
Therefore, everyone could only let Cen Mai, who had actually resigned and was waiting to hand over government affairs to the new Shaofu, take charge.
Cen Mai, however, stood up and accepted the order without any haste.
"I obey the imperial edict and dare not disobey it!" Cen Mai kowtowed and accepted the order, making countless people's jaws drop.
In the Han Dynasty, after receiving an order, it must be completed.
If you can't finish it, just wait for your head to fall off!
Cen Mai dared to accept the edict, which shows that the Shaofu has at least one million rock salt and several million kilograms of iron reserves in its inventory.
Without this confidence, the young master would never dare to accept such an order.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Zhou Yafu, Imperial Servant Yuan Ang, General Dou Ying and others all looked thoughtful.
Zhou Yafu was thinking of the blast furnaces he saw in Shanglinyuan last year.
Those monsters that smelt thousands of kilograms of iron a day, if they work at full strength, regardless of cost and loss, it will not be a problem to produce a mere million kilograms of iron.
What's more, Zhang Tang has now taken root in Nanyang County.
Then, the construction of the iron-making base that the emperor said would produce millions of kilograms of iron per year should also begin.
Therefore, the Shaofu no longer needs to specially reserve pig iron to deal with emergencies.
You know, last year, the Shaofu's expenditure reached an unprecedented 20 million yuan. It was almost the same as the military expenditure of the Han Dynasty last year.
It is normal for such a behemoth to have a reserve of 1.8 million kilograms of pig iron.
What's more, there is also the full cooperation and help of two relatives from Shu County, Cheng Zheng and Zhuo.
However, the problem of salt puzzled Zhou Yafu.
Five hundred thousand rock salt. I am afraid that the output of the entire Shaofu from various salt ponds last year was no more than this.
The salt produced by the Shaofu is to supply the two palaces, the army and various government offices.
I never do takeout.
Zhou Yafu was very curious as to what methods and spells the young master was going to use to conjure half a million rock salt.
Therefore, Zhou Yafu couldn't help but curiously asked: "May I ask Your Majesty, where does the salt and iron come from?"
Others also craned their necks, waiting for answers.
Since the official operation of salt and iron was implemented in Guanzhong, a large amount of affordable salt and iron began to flood the market.
The salt and iron yamen under the Da Nong Order opened salt and iron sales bases in five of the nine cities in Chang'an, every three days. Open supply to the market without restrictions.
The price of one rock salt is about 500 to 700 yuan, and the price of one pound of iron is about ten yuan.
This is significantly lower than the market price.
The Yantie Yamen has been established for several months, and no one has noticed the disadvantages for the time being.
But everyone has tasted the benefits.
On the day when salt and iron are sold, the princes and ministers of Chang'an, the tycoons of various yamen, and the major wealthy families in Guanzhong all send their family members and servants to transport carts of copper coins, and even gold directly.
Stay at the sales point.
The affordable salt and iron supplied by the Salt and Iron Yamen was just eaten up by various families, forces and interest groups using such fair and aboveboard means.
It is almost a dream for ordinary people to buy affordable salt and iron!
After these people buy salt and iron, they usually increase the price by 30% to 50%, and then sell it to the common people.
Everyone is making a lot of money.
Some smart people even discovered that as time went by, the salt and iron in Chang'an City became difficult to sell.
They shipped it to other counties in Guanzhong, doubled the price, and still made a lot of money.
In recent times, the prince who has made the most money from this reselling business has even earned more wealth than his feudal tax.
It’s really enviable!
As a result, the government-run policy of salt and iron received unprecedented support.
In the eyes of princes and bureaucrats.
This salt and iron official camp has simply become the emperor's policy to distribute welfare to everyone.
As long as he stays at home, sends a servant, brings money, and stays there, he can obtain unprecedented benefits.
This is faster than taking the risk of breaking the law, exploiting, bullying farmers, embezzling and accepting bribes, and it is even faster than the money buying and selling in Chang'an City.
After all, in sub-money trading, there is still the risk that the principal cannot be recovered.
But in this transaction, you can get benefits for nothing as long as you use your name and social status.
There are even some unscrupulous people who buy salt, mix it with soil and mud themselves at home, and then they can still sell it!
However, as time goes by, everyone knows this way to make a fortune.
As a result, the ways to make money have become narrower.
Especially when the Dou family, Chen family, and Bo family also came to an end, a large number of people who were not important enough were expelled from the market.
Basically, if you are not a courtier now, you don't even have a chance to get a share of the pie.
Even the princes cannot squeeze into this food chain.
There are still some princes from the Han Dynasty who have names, surnames, and feudal states, food and towns, and there are about 150 of them.
Those who live permanently in Chang'an account for almost half of the total number of princes.
Naturally, in Chang'an, the term Liehou will be devalued.
But on the other hand, the noble class possesses a large amount of wealth that is difficult for ordinary people to imagine.
Chinese landowners and nobles have always been fond of saving.
Like the Ming Dynasty, a large amount of silver was hidden in the cellars of landlords and wealthy people, waiting to go moldy.
The feudal lord class of the Han Dynasty stored massive amounts of gold.
In most cases, this gold will eventually be buried deep underground with these princes.
In addition, as princes, they also occupied a large amount of land.
Especially in their respective feudal states, like the local emperors, the noble families with a transcendent status were almost the local overlords.
Their granaries also store a large amount of grain.
Normally, these guys would rather have their own warehouses become moldy than take out food to help the victims.
After Guanzhong implemented grain price protection, these princes no longer transported grain from their feudal states to Chang'an.
The price of food in Guanzhong has become unprofitable. Of course, the shrewd princes will choose to store their food in the warehouses of their feudal states. Some even smarter guys choose to bring their slaves, retainers and family members with them.
Come to Chang'an to eat cheap food.
But doing it this way created a problem. The princes definitely didn't want their grain to be sold at a low price, and it was unprofitable to transport the grain to Guanzhong. Then, the grain would just moldy at home.
Food is not like gold. Just throw it somewhere and hide it.
Food will rot, mold, and deteriorate, and long-term storage is costly.
And if you can't sell it, you'll have to throw it away, and you'll even have to pay a lot of management costs.
In the past, the princes had no choice but to watch a large amount of food moldy and spoiled in the warehouses of their feudal countries.
Let alone them, this kind of situation has been happening in the imperial palaces in recent years. Even the ropes connecting the money have become rotten.
This situation continues, and many princes are actually anxious in their hearts.
Watching your own food rotting every day is the same feeling as later generations of capitalists pouring milk and coffee into the sea.
They urgently need to find a way to preserve the value of their property.
Is there any better way to maintain and increase value than the conditions and policies issued by the emperor this time?
For the princes who controlled a large amount of privileges, property and land, transporting food from the feudal country to Pengcheng was not a problem at all.
They have a large amount of cheap labor. Even the princes who live in hundreds of households have dozens or hundreds of slaves in their homes.
These people are just idle on weekdays. They might as well go transport food and increase their income.
The grain waiting to become moldy in the warehouse was transported to Pengcheng and resold to obtain salt and iron, which is as hard currency as gold.
Not to mention one hundred stones of grain for ten stone salt, two hundred pounds of iron.
Even if they exchanged two hundred stones for this amount of salt and iron, they would still make a profit!
As for whether the court will refuse to pay?
The princes are even less worried.
Three years ago, during the Wu-Chu Rebellion, Wuyan, a Ziqian merchant from Chang'an, loaned Dou Ying and Zhou Yafu five thousand gold to pay for their military expenses. After the Wu-Chu Rebellion was settled, Wuyan, together with his principal and interest, earned ten times the profit.
Even the debts of merchants with money were not ignored by the court.
Let alone them, who are the heroes of the country and the princes who share weal and woe.
The only thing they worry about is: Is the amount of salt and iron enough?
You know, any prince can produce tens of thousands of shi of food.
What if the grain is shipped, and the young master turns back and says: Oh, the prince may have to wait half a year for me to produce salt and iron.
That would be tragic!
Who doesn't know that what Shaofu is best at is procrastination?
It is possible that it will delay you for three to five years, or even seven or eight years.
After all, a single prince cannot go to court or win a lawsuit against the Shaofu, one of the Nine Qings.
If the young master could really come up with so much salt and iron at once...
Many princes and even ministers have mentally calculated their own food reserves.
Follow the emperor's policy and you will have meat to eat.
This is one of the insights summarized by the noble ministers of Chang'an in the past year.
For example, last year, the emperor included wheat in the grain price protection policy. The nobles who received the news in advance purchased a large amount of cheap wheat in Guanzhong and even Guandong, and resold it to Shaofu. Those who had more earned 50%, and those who had less also made a profit.
Two to three percent.
Then, the emperor promoted waterwheels.
Everyone gritted their teeth, paid for it, and set up a waterwheel in their own manor.
As a result, the people below were delighted to report that much of the land that had been left fallow or even reduced to farmland due to exhaustion of soil fertility was turned into farmland, and the crops grew particularly well.
And through the waterwheel erection, the "tax rebate" obtained from Nei Shi allowed us to purchase many convenient and advanced agricultural tools for free.
These farm tools are very easy to use and greatly improve the production efficiency of the farm.
For example, in the past, it took four men three or four days to cultivate one hundred acres of land.
Now, two oxen and one plow can plow more than 200 acres in one day!
Many noble ministers have benefited greatly from this.
This time. If we really have those five hundred thousand rock salt and one million kilograms of iron.
Everyone thinks that there is no need to trouble the merchants and landlords all over the world.
You can solve it yourself!
It’s just five million stones of food!
You can do it all with your eyes closed!
Liu Che tapped his fingers lightly and answered Zhou Yafu's question with a smile: "Last year, the Shaofu opened a hundred hectares of salt fields in Jiangdu State. Now, in Guangling City alone, there is a salt reserve of no less than one million stones...
…”
As soon as these words came out, countless people were shocked.
Salt field?
Can salt still be grown? Isn’t it boiled or marinated?
Everyone felt that their brains were a bit exhausted.
But Liu Che didn't want to go into too much detail.
For the time being, the country needs to monopolize solar salt technology and blast furnace ironmaking technology to amass wealth.
Only when the next stable financial source appears will restrictions on such technologies be relaxed.
Of course, it's just about letting go.
The state’s control and strong control over salt and iron are still needed.
Salt is related to the national economy and people's livelihood, and iron is the strategic cornerstone.
Of these two, no matter what era it is, it is better for the state to be the main body to control and promote it.
Let the people develop and manage freely, it is destined to become a tragedy!
The Shaofu Ling Cenmai also smiled and said: "Since this year, the salt reserves in Aocang have been close to 800,000 shi!"
This is the total reserve of 1.8 million stones!
The breathing of countless ministers and nobles became rapid.
Since even salt can be transformed into so much by magic, a mere million kilograms of iron is no longer a problem.
Now, everyone's thoughts have changed from whether the Shaofu has so much salt and iron. Can the Shaofu give more salt and iron?
How huge is the gap of salt and iron in the world!
Not to mention the whole world, even Guanzhong can digest these five hundred thousand rock salt and one million kilograms of iron!
Transform the food that has nowhere to go at home into salt and iron that can be converted into money immediately.
For the nobles, princes and ministers, this is simply an irresistible temptation!
Liu Che looked at these ministers and nobles who were looking at him eagerly with fawning looks on their faces, and he laughed in his heart.
The wealth, manpower and material resources of the princes were actually part of the national power of the Han Dynasty.
It's just that in peacetime, these powers are wasted in vain.
What's even more troublesome is that these guys have no concept of investment. They are like misers, guarding their wealth and resources to rot, and finally take these things with them to rot in the ground.
This situation was very common in feudal society.
For example, during the Ming Dynasty, a large amount of American silver poured into China, but the Ming government actually caused a silver shortage. This is really dumbfounding.
The same goes for the Han Dynasty, the entire upper level had a lot of gold.
If this gold is properly utilized, it will be enough to implement the gold standard.
But unfortunately, from the emperor to the nobles below, everyone prefers to take gold underground.
Later, Wang Mang tried an unsuccessful gold-copper exchange mechanism.
This time, Liu Che plans to teach these guys a lesson.
Let them know that wealth only has power when it is circulated.
Wealth that cannot be circulated is, at best, just a pile of useless metal.
At the same time, it also let the Legalists know that focusing on the land can no longer enrich the country and strengthen the military.
In the new era, the source of power comes from the combination of industry and manpower, a combination of iron and blood. (To be continued)
ps: Wang Mang made a historic decision during the reform of the new dynasty, which was to stipulate the exchange rate between gold and copper coins. One pound of gold is worth ten thousand.
However, this is not the case.
It basically has no effect.
Because the upper-class nobles don’t need copper coins. They can make their own coins!
What's even more troublesome is that after Wang Mang made such a fuss, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the vast number of nobles and elites felt that money was really the root of all evil!
So everyone slapped their butts and decided that from today on, we don’t need any money!
Therefore, the Eastern Han Dynasty government abolished coins in the early and middle periods...
Instead, cloth and grain were used as general equivalents.
As a result, the power and strength of the Eastern Han government were greatly weakened.
