Chapter 522 Governing a big country is like cooking a small fish
As the governor of Jiaodong County, Heifu was arranging the itinerary in front, while Qin Shihuang's large army was twenty miles away. Just when Zhang Cang was sighing at the sea he saw for the first time, Qin Shihuang was at the last pavilion on the seashore.
, eating the food temporarily prepared by the imperial chef.
Qin Shihuang was not a foodie like Duke Huan of Qi, which may have something to do with his poor gastrointestinal condition. There were so many things in the world, Qin Shihuang was very nervous every day, and was used to eating and working at the same time.
It was cold, but I didn’t take a few bites. In addition, as people reach middle age, their stomach and intestines gradually become weak, so they only eat a small amount at each meal. They don’t seek luxury and complete food, and they are even less interested in the various fancy foods that have become popular in Guanzhong in recent years.
, still maintain the tradition, just make six-course meat and vegetable soup rice.
After the visitor's attendant tested the poison twice with a silver needle and his own life, Qin Shihuang held up his chopsticks and picked up a cooked fish to eat, but he frowned again.
"It's too salty."
The Yong people who were in charge of the imperial cuisine fell to their knees as if they were facing a serious disaster. The chef was also brought to apologize, saying that although the tableware, tripods and Gui were all brought from Xianyang, they used local sea fish, and sea fish meat has its own salt content.
, so it is slightly heavier.
Qin Shihuang did not get angry, but asked the chef to get up and ask him: "Is the salt used Shaofu salt or local salt?"
"It's the salt from the young master's house." The chef cherishes his own life, how dare he use salt of unknown origin!
He added: "The Shaofu has two kinds of salt, Huamachi green salt in the North, and Anyi white salt. The Shaofu personally sent people to obtain it locally and transported it back to Xianyang for storage..."
"Three parts of the world's salt come from Qi, and two parts come from Qi, but why don't you use the salt from Qi? Do you know?" Qin Shihuang tilted his head and asked the officials this sharp question.
The ministers looked at each other in confusion, but Zhao Gao, the commander of the CRRC Mansion who was used to a hard life when he was a child, smiled and said: "Your Majesty, Huamachi green salt comes from the frontier, with the best color and the most authentic taste. And Anyi was called Daxia in ancient times, and Daxia
Salt has the beauty of harmony. These two are the most suitable seasonings for kings. Although there is a lot of salt produced in Qi, most of it tastes astringent. If it is not cooked properly, it will have a burnt and bitter taste. This is the salt of common people in Guizhou, how can it be used?
From His Majesty’s mouth?”
"Although it is food for the head of Guizhou, it is a huge benefit to the world."
Qin Shihuang looked around: "Where is Zhang Cang from the Young Master? Isn't he knowledgeable? He is also in charge of the imperial government. Come and talk to me about the world's salt policy."
"Your Majesty, Zhang Cang went to the seaside with the Jiaodong County Sheriff first." Ting Wei Ye Teng stood up and said with cupped hands. Li Si was left in Linzi by Qin Shihuang to preside over the collection and revision of books in Qi. Ye Teng became the leader of the accompanying courtiers. Some people say,
This is because Prime Minister Li deliberately did not come to Jiaodong to observe the government.
"He's not there when you need him, but his voice is quite loud when you don't need him."
Qin Shihuang was a little displeased and looked at Ye Teng: "I once heard your Majesty say that when you were a junior official, you were also in charge of salt and grain, so let the Tingwei tell me a little about it."
He didn't pick on anyone. He waved his hand and asked Ye Teng to tell the story while he was eating.
Ye Teng smiled and said: "Your Majesty, this salt seems ordinary and you eat it every day. But in fact, it is enough to determine a person's life or death, and the strength of a country!"
"Oh?" Qin Shihuang became interested and asked Ye Teng to elaborate.
Ye Teng started his career in practical politics and knew the conditions of the grassroots very well, so he started from what he saw in his daily life. This man eats salt every day, which is common for nobles. Sometimes he feels that the salt is heavy, but for the poor people in Guizhou, it is not enough.
Eating salt is a matter of life and death!
"Without salt, one is powerless. Not to mention working in the fields, even walking feels weak. I can't live without salt."
In addition to daily needs, preserving vegetables, meat, fish and other items also requires salt to be preserved. Li Si used the two most common foods in Qin, "sauce" and "jing", as an analogy.
Of these two things, one is mashed and pickled beans, which are essential foods for the Qin army on expeditions. They are extremely salty, but you only need a small plate of dry corn rice to eat them.
It can also supplement the salt needed by the Qin soldiers so that they can carry spears and halberds. The same goes for "Jing", which is pickled vegetables, mainly mallow vegetables. This is a common dish for farmers. There are even Qi
The local sea fish must be salted nearby so that it can be widely sold in the mainland. It has become the only meat that many people can eat all year round...
Salt is so important that everyone cannot live without it, but the biggest problem is that not every region produces salt.
Farmers are mostly self-sufficient. They can grow their own food and eat it. They can grow their own brown linen, and women can twist and spin thread. They can make food and clothing on their own, but not salt! You can't grow this stuff in the ground.
, which makes salt the only commodity that people need to buy and exchange.
The earliest merchants in the world were salt merchants! They transported salt from the big salt pond near Anyi to other places.
Ye Teng said: "Therefore, the most important commodities in the world are grain, salt, cloth, iron, copper, and livestock!"
He ranked salt second, even more important than cloth!
"So this whole land relies on sea salt to become rich?" Qin Shihuang stopped his chopsticks.
Ye Teng said: "Of course, the Yingqiu area in Qi was mostly a land of salt and brine eight hundred years ago, with a vast area and sparsely populated areas. However, Taigong Qi's trade and industry benefited from fish and salt, and many people returned to Qi.
Then it became a great country. By the time of Duke Huan of Qi, the people had already gathered in large numbers, and he also used Guan Zhong's policy to control mountains and seas, making the government specialize in salt and iron. Therefore, Qi crowned and clothed the world, gathered armies from Haidai and went to court."
He also followed the emperor's wishes and ignored the key point of "mercantilism" that was important in Qi's prosperity, and only emphasized the salt and iron official business.
Ye Teng believed that Qi Huangong obtained a large amount of salt by cutting firewood and cooking salt, and then sold it to the princes of the Central Plains who did not have salt at a high price, thus making huge profits.
"Guan Yi and I said that you cut down the firewood and boiled the water to sell it to the world! This means that by boiling the sea and selling salt, everyone in the world paid the salt tax to Qi, and Qi became rich."
Only with sufficient fiscal revenue can Qi become one of the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period, the nine princes, and rule the world. Without the financial support provided by the trade system brought by salt, how could Duke Huan of Qi have the money to organize a multinational peacekeeping force, and how could he have the money every year?
How to maintain peace in the Zhou Dynasty and establish a new international order in the Spring and Autumn Period by holding a summit of princes?
When the Tian family came to the head of the family, Qi was also known for its extravagance. The palace was several times better than that of Qin. It not only supported the growing fields, but also spent huge sums of money to build huge defenses and the Qi Great Wall, and used a large number of foreign troops.
They often spend money to hire people to fight. In this case, they only collect 10% tax from farmers, and the people in the country are living a good life...
All these are the dividends brought by the external sales of Haiyan!
But now, the sky has changed, the Qi State has been destroyed, and the Qin Dynasty has taken control of the seaside salt field. This cornucopia is now in the hands of Qin officials.
"Governing a big country is like cooking small dishes, that's what I say."
Qin Shihuang looked at the unfinished plate of fish and said with enlightenment: "In addition to adding some grain to this little delicacy, the most indispensable thing is salt. The prosperity of the country is high, and the people are low.
Food, with this food, the world can be harmonious!"
…
The reason why Qin Shihuang took the time to come here to take a look is very simple: now the imperial finances are already stretched thin, both the emperor's private treasury and the Shaofu, as well as the national finance and affairs, are extremely poor. In the past six years, there has been almost no money.
Sui Bu Zhan, Lishan Mausoleum, Palace, Straight Road, Chi Road, Five-foot Road, Great Wall, Farming outside the Great Wall, Hunting and Zen...
In short, there are too many places where money needs to be used! The court has been in difficulty to the point where it has made additional oral taxes several times, which has caused widespread complaints among the people. The tax has already reached 1.5 dan per mu, and it is impossible to increase it. Therefore, in the past few years, they have spent money lavishly.
The emperor had to start looking around with his eyes wide open to see where he could open up new sources of wealth to maintain his ambitions and huge empire.
Since the Qi State created a huge amount of wealth by relying on sea salt, why couldn't Qin do the same?
In the eyes of the emperor, salt is no longer salt, but white gold!
For this reason, when he was in Xianyang, Qin Shihuang specifically asked the Shaofu to check the salt production in Jibei, Linzi, Jiaodong, and Langya counties in Qi, and he almost lost his temper!
During the Tian Qi period, more than 100,000 bells of salt were obtained from boiling the sea every year.
But when the Qin Dynasty managed these salt fields, the output had shrunk by half, to only 50,000 to 60,000 bells!
The reasons for this are very complicated and cannot be explained clearly in a few words. In short, the Qin Dynasty's salt tax is far from what the emperor expected. Since last year, Qin Shihuang has ordered the coastal counties to make corrections several times, but the results have been unsatisfactory. He sent
When Heifu came to Jiaodong, in addition to being the only way for him to make his eastward tour, it was also one of the purposes for Heifu to find a way to manage the local salt administration.
Today is the time for the emperor to check the results. Although he has heard some rumors and Heifu also mentioned it, saying that the results are impressive and the output will double next year, there are some things that are better to be seen to be believed.
With this in mind, Qin Shihuang also finished the imperial meal and was about to let the motorcade set off again to go to the salt field at the mouth of Weishui River. Heifu had already arranged everything and was just waiting for his inspection...
However, before boarding the carriage, the officer in charge, Zhao Cheng, Zhao Gao's younger brother, came to report that a few miles away from Tingyi, he found soldiers from Jiaodong County having a dispute with several people.
Zhao Cheng knelt down and said: "When I saw those people acting suspiciously, I thought they were assassins, so I went over to ask. After interrogation, they said that they were magicians from Jiaodong County and had grievances to report to Your Majesty..."
"If you have any grievances, there are local orders for the Prime Minister to handle them. What's the use of coming to me?"
Qin Shihuang glanced at Zhao Cheng coldly. In the Qin Dynasty, cases were tried step by step. Unless the criminal was begging for help, he could not be reported to the higher level! The emperor reviewed important cases and only interfered with the judiciary occasionally. For example, Qin Shihuang released Zhao Gao's disapproval.
kill……
Zhao Cheng said quickly: "But those group of alchemists said that they wanted to offer their alchemy skills to help His Majesty live forever, but they were blocked by the Jiaodong County Sheriff!"
"oh?"
To live forever, this was a knot in Qin Shihuang's heart. After hearing this, he frowned, but still did not come forward, but looked at Tingwei Ye Teng.
"Tingwei, you and this county magistrate, the Prime Minister, go and have a listen, and then give the love letter to me for review."
Ye Teng solemnly accepted the order and left. After a while, he and the Prime Minister of Xiami County returned the love letter.
However, Qin Shihuang did not open it and asked, "What did those alchemists tell you?"
Ye Teng smiled helplessly and said: "Three alchemists told the Jiaodong County Governor to falsely convey His Majesty's will and deceive them."
"They said that Heifu, the governor of Jiaodong County, posted notices in various counties in the past few months, saying that he wanted to recruit Jiaodong magicians to practice strange alchemy and offer them to His Majesty. He hoped that the alchemists would come to the county to report."
"All the alchemists believed it and went to Jimo. Unexpectedly, the Jiaodong County Governor treated them as prisoners and sent them to the mountains to search for minerals and veins, or sent them to the seaside to be exposed to the wind and sun all day long and do some things.
Hard labor... It was not until a few days ago that these alchemists were released, and a layer of their skin had been peeled off by the sun. They felt that they had been deceived by the Jiaodong County Sheriff. They heard that the Holy Emperor was patrolling east, so they came to complain...
"
The ministers looked at each other in confusion. Zhao Cheng was a little proud. If he hadn't asked more questions, the three Jiaodongfang scholars would have been blocked by the county soldiers. They wanted to wink at their brother Zhao Gao to take credit, but were glared at by Zhao Gao.
one time!
"Stupid!" This was what Zhao Gao was saying in his heart.
Lu Sheng, Han Zhong and other alchemists looked at each other. A few alchemists who didn't know the truth wanted to speak, but Lu Sheng shook his head to stop him...
Qin Shihuang was stunned at first, and then burst into laughter. Hei Fu had mentioned this matter a few days ago, but Qin Shihuang didn't pay much attention to it at the time. He didn't expect that it would turn out like this in the mouths of those alchemists.
"Okay, my Jiaodong County Sheriff actually did such an act, and arrested those alchemists and took them to the seaside. Let's see what 'strange alchemy' Heifu asked them to tinker with!