"Ms. Lu..." Zhao Xin suddenly asked, "I have something to ask my husband..." "Your Majesty's words are serious, but when you ask, I will tell you everything I know!" Lu Yixian immediately held the bamboo slips and bowed.
"What is the reason for the country's entry into China today?" Zhao Xin asked softly.
Ruzhong is a government-run economic and trade system created and unique to the Northern Song Dynasty.
This trading system is somewhat similar to futures in later generations.
But it is different. Futures are designated commodities, with a designated delivery date and a calibrated price.
However, it is a designated commodity. As long as it is delivered to an area where entry is allowed, you can get the reward - an officially issued paid security.
Then the merchant took the securities to Bianjing and settled with Zhao Guan's family.
The settlement method is not to give money directly.
Instead, it is converted into hard currencies such as tea, salt, spices, silver, and gold according to prescribed proportions.
This process is called gambling.
Generally speaking, in order to encourage businessmen to enter China, the state often offers high premiums to encourage businessmen to actively enter China.
Depending on the distance and criticality of the place of entry, the conversion methods of the purchased goods are also very different.
Like now, the premium rate for grain in military states along the border is as high as seven times!
In other words, as long as you can deliver grain worth 10,000 guan to the border, you can cash in 70,000 guan of salt, tea, cloth, spices, silver, gold and other hard currencies in Bianjing.
Of course, this is also a beautiful thing to watch.
In fact, the waters of trade with China are very deep.
In Zhao Xin's previous life, during the political reform, Wang Anshi said: Small merchants cannot enter the middle, only big merchants can! Only big merchants can! Therefore, the power of border buying is restricted to the big merchants, so the purchasing price is high and the official fees are heavy.
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In fact, what Wang Anshi said was very polite.
In fact, the names of these big businessmen are relatives, clan members, and important ministers.
Go in and take a look at Jie Shen Alley in Bianjing City. Who is the owner of the splendid, vast facade, majestic houses, and eye-catching shops where each transaction can cost tens of millions?
If you go to Kaifeng Mansion and look it up, you can find it.
Now, the surname is definitely either Cao or Zhao, maybe there is also someone surnamed Lu.
Each of these shops handles less than 500,000 yuan of inbound securities trade every month. The shopkeepers can go home and wash themselves off.
Of course, the water is so deep that Zhao Xin will not move now.
Instead, he will turn a blind eye and listen but not hear.
He just wants to take advantage of the special nature of trade with China to do something for himself.
How did Lu Yijian know this? When he heard this, he was startled, but he still answered honestly: "Reporting to your Majesty, now the purchase is salt, tea, spices, silver, gold and silk cloth, silk..."
"What are the designated products?" Zhao Xin thought for a while and asked again.
"It should be grains, wood, feathers, anointing oil, etc..."
"Add something to the purchase order..." Zhao Xin ordered softly.
"What?"
Zhao Xin smiled and said: "Dried fish! Dried sea fish!"
Lu Yijian raised his head in confusion. When would the Song Dynasty have a large supply of dried sea fish? Who would these things be sold to?
However, he didn't ask any more questions. Anyway, just add a new product to the Zhongbian Book.
Just a little effort.
Whether the merchants want it or not is their own business.
Anyway, Lu Yijian knew very well that what Zhong said about you and me being willing to press the cow's head to drink water was something that both Taizong and Zhenzong had done. The result was... Ruizhong's trade was in a dramatic decline, and it was not enough for the side, so it had to be given up.
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Since then, the Zhao family has given up interfering in trade with China and began to adhere to a market economy, leaving everything to the invisible hand of the market.
When the supply is sufficient, the premium rate will be reduced; when the supply is depleted, the premium rate will be increased.
The market has the final say!
As a result, trade with China flourished, and within decades, countless people were supported in Bianjing City.
"In addition, among the imported materials, one more thing... saltpeter, saltpeter powder..." Zhao Xin chuckled: "The merchants have arrived in the capital. After delivery, please do the calculation immediately!"
Saltpeter and saltpeter powder will inevitably become strategic materials in the future.
After all, if we just rely on building projects, we can do it ourselves or set up a state-owned nitrate powder production organization.
Then I am afraid that it will not only cost a lot of money and cause serious waste, but also may cause various problems.
It would be better to leave it to the private sector from the beginning, with the help of powerful businessmen collecting and producing it.
In this way, the supply and reserves of potassium nitrate obtained by the Song Dynasty will be greatly increased.
As for the leak...
To be honest, once black powder is used, it is difficult to ensure that the secret is not leaked.
Because after the war started, it was impossible to prevent our soldiers who used black powder weapons from being captured by the enemy.
Once the enemy obtains the firearms of the Song Army soldiers, even if they cannot imitate the original weapons, it is still very simple to imitate the firearms with 60 to 70% power.
Therefore, if you want to maintain your advantage, the key is to rely on yourself.
As long as one's own industrial level is strong, the troops and equipment can be deployed quickly enough.
Then the enemy won't be able to catch up even if they are chasing you.
Especially, for the current world.
The level of technology and handicraft industry in the Song Dynasty was top-notch.
Lu Yijian was stunned as he listened, and then he thought about it. It seemed that the bolt from the blue that His Highness the Prince of Tang had done a few days ago would have required a large amount of saltpeter.
Now, it is not surprising that he has added saltpeter powder to his collection.
Moreover, after he thought about it carefully, this kind of thing was not worth alarming the officials.
After all, the King of Tang only added one item of supplies and one item of capital.
The rest is the business of the businessmen.
The merchants thought it was profitable and were willing to exchange their entry tickets for dried fish, or they were willing to travel thousands of miles to transport a load of saltpeter to Bianjing for calculation.
This is their freedom.
They all start when they think they can make some money.
Therefore, Lu Yijian bowed his head and said: "I will arrange for people to do this well!"
It's just a matter of writing a post or an official document, so it doesn't take much effort.
As Lu Yijian himself said - it's just a matter of raising a finger.
Zhao Xin listened with a smile on her face.
He originally thought that he would have to spend some time to persuade Lu Yijian to agree.
Now it seems that Lu Yijian is probably too worried about Zhao Zhen's fainting on the woman's belly, and is unwilling to compete with him on these minutiae.
"I'm really a genius!" Zhao Xin licked his tongue thinking about the dried sea fish.
In later generations, there was a place called Station B, where a group of big shots were active.
Before time travel, Zhao Xin loved watching the videos of these people going to sea.
In the sea world, there is a kind of fish, which is called the golden legend and fortune fish - cucumber fish, which is also a wild large yellow croaker.
Legend has it that if it weighs more than one kilogram, its value will suddenly soar, and it will be priced in two.
This kind of fish was once so flooded that there were countless fish in the coastal areas, and a huge yellow croaker fishery was formed every year.
How did it fail?
The answer is that the hard-working, brave and intelligent fishermen of Zhejiang invented a fishing method called croaker fishing. They took advantage of the physiological weakness of yellow croaker, which belongs to the totoaba, and used a large number of small fishing boats to form an encirclement to surround the yellow croaker school, and then knocked and tied it. Bamboo poles on small fishing boats use sound waves to shatter the otoliths in the croaker's ears that are used for balance.
As a result, this fish will lose its balance and be slaughtered by others.
Xia Shouyun went to Guangzhou to do this.
Last month, Xia Shouyun had already replied to the letter. He organized fishermen along the coast of Guangnan to catch fish using the method of knocking off bamboo. The effect was remarkable. In just one May, more than 800 small boats and a dozen large ships caught all the fish. More than 4 million kilograms of fresh fish were harvested, and nearly 10,000 kilograms of dried fish were obtained after drying.
And it only cost more than 30,000 yuan of labor.
What a huge profit!
Now, Xia Shouyun ordered his cronies to lead the army and escort this batch of dried fish, totaling nearly 10,000 dan, from Guangzhou, traveling day and night, to Bianjing.
From now on, every month, at least 10,000 dried stone fish will be escorted from Guangnan East Road to Bianjing!
Needless to say, these dried fish arrived at just the right time!
Especially at this time, the arrival of these dried fish in Beijing will once again strengthen and deepen Zhao Xin's aura!
Lu Yijian didn't know about this, because Xia Shouyun was a retainer of the Zhao family, and his report would not go through Zhongshu, but would be sent directly to the emperor in the form of beeswax.
One copy was sent to Zhao Zhen's case, and the other was sent to Zhao Xin.
In other words, apart from Zhao Zhen, the only person who knows about this matter now is Zhao Xin.