Since the emperor was determined to continue the war, Hubu Shangshu Wiqi stopped persuading him and just reminded Zhou Jun: "Your Majesty, if the war between Shuofang and Jiangnan continues like this, then according to the current expenditure level, the national treasury will
It can only last another three months."
Zhou Jun nodded, indicating that he understood.
After the Ministry of Revenue officials left, Zhou Jun began to think about how to solve the financial problem.
Generally speaking, when the national finance cannot make ends meet, there are three common solutions: increasing taxes, issuing additional currency, and issuing national bonds.
Let’s talk about taxes first. Nowadays, all walks of life in the Northern Tang Dynasty are in need of development. The land policy and population policy have just begun to be reformed. Increasing taxes at this time is tantamount to interrupting the country’s development momentum.
Let’s talk about currency. If a large amount of gold, silver and copper currency is printed in the name of the country, or paper currency is forcibly promoted to be linked to cloth, grain, etc., then the Tang Dynasty, which lacks a regulated financial market, is likely to suffer from collusion between government and businessmen.
Problems such as over-issuance of currency and shoddy goods lead to inflation, which in turn triggers the collapse of the national currency. Therefore, issuance of additional currency is not a good idea.
As for the final issuance of national bonds, since there are no strict laws and institutions for bond issuance, and there is no similar precedent before the Tang Dynasty, the public acceptance is not high, so it is likely to evolve into official forced private purchase, and finally become a donation.
A type of exploitation method.
Looking at it this way, increasing taxes, issuing more currency, and issuing treasury bonds will all lead to nowhere.
Zhou Jun was also in trouble at this time. The national treasury would soon be at its bottom. Is it possible that at this juncture, the war between Shuofang and Jiangnan should be suspended to allow the entire country's war machine to temporarily cool down and give the enemy a chance to breathe?
A few days later, when Zhou Jun was still worried about the treasury, Kang Kejing, the state and municipal supervisor, came with a group of officials to interview him.
After the first Datang Merchant Conference concluded successfully, merchants and workshops from Anxi, Beiting and other places each elected corresponding representatives, registered with the State and Municipal Supervisors, and regularly participated in royal meetings held by the imperial court.
Kang Kejing came to find the emperor with a list, highlighted some commercial firms in prefectures and counties, and introduced in detail the election method and rotation mechanism of regional representatives.
Zhou Jun listened to Kang Kejing's introduction to the representatives of the trading houses, and thought about the consumption of the war and the bottoming out of the national treasury. He had some vague ideas in his mind, but he was always not very clear.
After thinking carefully, Zhou Jun interrupted Kang Kejing's report and asked: "I remember that at the meeting, a representative of a trading company once said that Anxi has superb textile skills and wool fabrics are exported to other countries. However, the wool raw materials come from Uighur and are not easy to obtain.
?”
Kang Kejing nodded and said: "Your Majesty is right. Wool workshops such as Zhangrongfang are good at manufacturing wool fabrics. However, the raw materials in the north are interrupted. Now they can only look far away and import wool from the big food country."
Hearing this, an idea flashed in Zhou Jun's mind, and the four words "fight to support war" suddenly appeared.
He stood up from the throne, paced back and forth, and asked Kang Kejing: "If I intend to use troops against the Uighurs and hand over all the pastures, sheep, herdsmen, etc. that I have captured to the merchants, then what will happen?"
Will these trading houses agree to share the cost of sending troops?"
Kang Kejing was stunned for a moment, then discussed with the officials of the State and City Supervisors for a while, nodded to Zhou Jun and said: "If the imperial court can lease Huihe's pastures, sheep, herdsmen and other resources to trading companies, the Tang army will need them for the expedition."
The merchant bank will definitely agree to share the money and food."
After Zhou Jun heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief, but then asked again: "The cost of marching and fighting, food, wages, supplies, luggage, etc. is not a small amount. Are these merchants really able to afford it?"
Kang Kejing: "As long as it is profitable, a trading firm will definitely invest. If one trading firm can't take the business, then it won't be a big deal if dozens or even hundreds of them share it... In the early years, An Shouzhong was there
Jiangnan fought against the puppet Tang Dynasty and captured a large number of people. Weichen did slave business with them. All the slaves obtained were transported to Anxi and then sold to hundreds of merchants. The profits gained from them could not only cover the back and forth
expenditure, and can also create huge profits, that’s why.”
Zhou Jun: "That's good. At present, the national treasury is tight, and the imperial court will not only use troops against Huihe, but also against Jiangnan. Are domestic commercial banks and workshops willing to participate in raising funds for these two wars? How to participate? I hope
What to get? How to manage after the war, etc., your country’s city supervisor will come up with a plan.”
Kang Kejing lowered his head and thought for a moment, then said: "Your Majesty, the National and Municipal Supervisors currently have to deal with the affairs of the central and local banks, communicate with the maritime trade, and deal with the work of the Tang Dynasty Commercial Forum Conference. If we add war funds,
For the purpose of raising funds, I am afraid that the current staff of the National and Municipal Supervision Bureau are not enough.”
Zhou Jun hadn't heard Kang Kejing's "overtone" at this time, and just replied: "What you said makes sense. The affairs of the national and municipal supervisors are heavy, and it is time to add another department to the prison to be responsible for commercial banks and the military."
Lease agreement between."
Seeing this, Kang Kejing said calmly: "Your Majesty, the army is fighting in the front, and the commercial banks provide military salaries. As a basis, they also obtain the right to use land, prisoners and resources from the court. This matter involves
Go to key departments such as the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Ministry of Household Affairs, as well as the state, city, prison, and temples, and communicate with these departments, I'm afraid the other party will have a grudge against you."
Kang Kejing's words were still vague, but this time Zhou Jun finally understood.
If the imperial court delegates power and allows the State and Municipal Supervisors to coordinate the leasing and war seizures of commercial banks, there will be too many links involved.
In other words, the power that the State and Municipal Supervisors can seize is so great that it even overwhelms the Sixth Department of the Shangshu Province and some other confidential departments.
The meaning behind Kang Kejing's statement about the small temple of the National and Municipal Supervisors was actually to remind the emperor that the National and Municipal Supervisors might arouse the resentment of the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of Household Affairs and other departments, and cause unnecessary trouble.
Zhou Jun couldn't help but nodded when he thought of this.
The National and Municipal Supervision is a newly established court department that currently manages the central and local banks, as well as national commerce and trade. If war seizures are handed over to its jurisdiction at this time, the power structure will be too great.
Zhou Jun then said: "As for the commercial bank's investment to support the army and lease and seizure, it is a temporary duty. I plan to set up a special envoy to coordinate the Ministry of Household, Ministry of War, Ministry of Punishment, State and Municipal Supervision and other departments to jointly handle related work.
.”
What Zhou Jun meant by this was that the commercial bank provided food and wages to the army in order to obtain the right to use the spoils of war. This matter was a temporary solution to the tight national treasury and would not last long.
He plans to set up a temporary envoy to coordinate the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Punishment, the State and Municipal Supervision and other departments, so that everyone can work together to promote this matter.
Hearing this, Kang Kejing bowed to Zhou Jun and said, "Your Majesty is wise."
At this point, the conversation between the emperor and the state and city supervisors marked the formal determination of the Northern Tang Dynasty's policy of "supporting war with war and strengthening the army with capital".