When it came to sugar making, Dugu Changqiu was a little hesitant. He hesitated for a while and said: "Your Highness, there is something I don't know whether to ask or not, but it has really been confusing us."
"Say it! After all, you are the elder, what is there to say?"
"Okay! Then I'll venture to ask."
Dugu Changqiu pondered for a while and then asked: "It's about the imperial court's monopoly. I know that salt has always been controlled by the imperial court, and later wine was also controlled by the imperial court. In fact, we are worried about whether the imperial court will control sugar in the future?"
Guo Song thought for a while and said, "This actually involves a wide range of things. The imperial court controls more than just salt, and it is not just for financial and tax control. For example, mining does not allow private mining of gold, silver, copper, and saltpetre.
Private smelting is not allowed, pig iron is not allowed to be exported, etc. This is for safety reasons. For example, there are restrictions on horses, housing, and boating. This is due to class considerations, and generally speaking, it focuses on the four areas of food, clothing, housing, and transportation.
aspects.
Clothing restrictions are also related to level. Clothing colors used to be restricted. Now except for purple and bright yellow for men, there are no restrictions on other colors. However, there are restrictions on clothing, hats and accessories. I won’t go into details about this.
The restrictions imposed by the imperial court due to financial and tax considerations are mainly on food. I have considered that the four major items of salt, sugar, tea and wine may have restrictions in the future. Needless to say about salt, everyone knows that wine is mainly controlled by the imperial court.
Tea is taxed during the cake-making process, and sugar may be made in the form of wine in the future. The court will control the coarse sugar, and the merchants will buy it back and process it into fine sugar, and the court will not care. That should be the case."
Dugu Changqiu suddenly asked anxiously: "Then what should we do with so many sugar beet farms and sugar cane farms?"
Guo Song waved his hand, "This does not affect you. You can produce it for your own use, but after you transport the jaggery to Chang'an, you need to pay a commercial tax to the court, or you can sell the jaggery to the court for refining.
When you buy jaggery from the court, the price difference is the sugar tax."
Dugu Changqiu was really a little depressed. He originally thought that sugar might not be sold exclusively by the government like salt, but he didn't expect that the court would still not let sugar go.
Guo Song saw the disappointment on his face and said with a smile: "Actually, it's the same thing. Commercial tax can't be exempted forever. When you transport jaggery from Lingnan to Chang'an, you need to pay a commercial tax, and there's also a lot of money.
Transportation costs, but if you sell jaggery to the court in Lingnan, there will be no commercial tax, and there will be no transportation costs. If you then buy the jaggery directly from the official warehouse in Chang'an and refine it, the price difference in the middle is actually equivalent to the commercial tax.
Plus shipping.”
Guo Song added: "You are a businessman, and you should know that profit mainly lies in the refining process. Just like all wine is brewed from koji cakes purchased from the imperial court. Some wines can only be sold for more than ten Wen per catty, but Meishou wine can only be sold for more than ten Wen per catty.
A kilogram can be sold for five guan, but the same rice cake can produce completely different profits. Isn't it the same with sugar production?"
Dugu Changqiu pondered for a moment and said: "Your Highness is right, coarse sugar costs one hundred cents per catty, but we control the cost of fine sugar to one hundred and fifty cents per catty, and we sell it for five hundred cents per catty. Of course, there are stores here.
After rent, wages, etc., our net profit is calculated at 300 cents per catty. Even if the competition becomes fierce in the future and fine sugar drops to 200 cents per catty, we will still double the profit."
Guo Song said with a smile: "Eating alone will not last long. The only way to make money is to make everyone rich. The court needs finance and taxation, but the Dugu family is greedy and greedy. This is not a long-term way!"
Dugu Changqiu was shocked, and he suddenly woke up and laughed at himself: "Businessmen have been doing business for a long time, always thinking about making profits, but forgetting about the longevity of the family. Your Highness taught you the right lesson, I will remember it!"
Guo Song smiled lightly, "It's not a lesson, it's just a friendly reminder!"
.......
After returning from the West Market, he happened to meet Du You and Pan Liao at the door of the official room. Guo Song invited them to sit down in his official room. Du You smiled and said, "How do you feel about your highness going to inspect the sale of sugar?"
Guo Song smiled slightly and said: "This time I am just asking for advice. Let's see how everyone accepts sugar. It seems to be very popular. It will be launched on a large scale by the end of the year. Sugar and tea will become our new tax sources in the future."
Pan Liao lamented: "These should be things we should consider, but His Highness is here to worry about tax sources, which makes us ashamed!"
"It doesn't matter. I also got inspiration from the salt tax. Why salt can be taxed? Firstly, it is because everyone can't live without it. Secondly, salt is very cheap and there is room for taxation. The same is true for wine, but I don't
I don’t advocate encouraging drinking. Brewing consumes too much food. Then I thought of tea and sugar. Just like salt, these two can be levied with low taxes and widely collected. As long as we have sufficient indirect taxes, we can reduce direct taxes and avoid tax.
Go to labor and reduce land and household taxes."
"Well said, Your Highness!"
Du You praised: "Using taxation to reduce taxes is indeed a brilliant idea. We must let the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs learn how to govern the country."
"OK OK!"
Guo Song waved his hands and said with a smile: "You praise me so much that I feel embarrassed. What do you want from me?"
"It's news about refugees!"
Pan Liao said: "We have just received news that Qiu Jingzhong led an army of 60,000 people into Songzhou, which triggered the panic among the people of Songzhou about the war. A large number of people fled in various counties. As expected by His Highness, the people in the north fled to Yanzhou, and the people in the south fled to Yanzhou.
Hundreds of thousands of people fled to Bozhou, and the situation was very chaotic."
...
Guo Song frowned, "Is the news about the chaotic situation accurate? I have already ordered Li Bing to start preparations."
"Your Highness, the news should be accurate. The current chaos is mainly occurring in Songzhou. We recommend that the army enter Songzhou immediately to maintain order and distribute dry food. The weather is hot now and we must prevent the outbreak of epidemics."
Guo Song took two steps with his hands behind his back and said to the two of them: "It is not a big problem to maintain order when the army enters the country. The key is to have capable civilian officials to manage it. Wang You is there in Yanzhou, so I am not worried, but there is no suitable person in Bozhou.
Man, what I am most worried about is over there."
Pan Liao thought for a while and said: "Wei Chen recommended Wang Guinian, the governor of Yangzhou, to go to Bozhou to resettle the victims. This man was extremely capable and restored Yangzhou's vitality in just one year. Wei Chen did not mean to transfer him to Bozhou, but to borrow
His power resettled the victims.”
Guo Song looked at Du You again. Du You is the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. He has the most say in the evaluation of officials. Du You nodded, "Wei Chen agrees with Pan Xiangguo's evaluation. Wang Guinian is indeed a rare talent. Not only is he outstanding in ability, but also his
Very strategic, Zhu Si exploited the Yangzhou merchants frantically, but at least half of the Yangzhou merchants were saved by him through various means. The Yangzhou merchants were full of gratitude to him. Once order was restored, a large number of merchants returned to Yangzhou under his call.
, Yangzhou’s vitality can be restored so quickly.”
Guo Song said happily: "Since you all said so, you must have some real ability. You can use him. I will use the Jin King's warrant to transfer him to Bozhou to abbot the refugee resettlement!"
...........
The war has not yet broken out, but the atmosphere of war has already enveloped Songzhou. The people of Songzhou were terrified and fled their homes one after another. Since Zhu Si's army came from the northwest and Qiu Jingzhong's army came from the southeast, the people's escape route was basically
Northeast and Southwest.
To the northeast is Yanzhou, which is a territory controlled by the Jin army. It has a strong attraction for the people of Songzhou. In the past, everyone was reluctant to give up their land and homes, but now they have no choice but to give up, and everyone has fled to Yanzhou.
On an official road leading to Yanzhou, the crowd of people supporting the elderly and the young was more than 20 miles long. The carts were filled with various belongings. The men were driving in front, and the wives were sitting with their young children in their arms.
Beside the husband and behind them were shabby furniture, pots and pans, and tattered bedding piled in the corner. There were several children on them, and two sheep were squeezed next to them. An old man was lying tightly in the middle of the furniture with a shabby mouth.
On the big box, it can be seen that the box contains their meager belongings.
There are also men carrying two large baskets, with their father on one side and their mother on the other. Most of the people are unfortunate and have difficulty walking on the official road.
At this time, a group of cavalry came rushing from a distance, and the people gave way to the side. The cavalry shouted: "Fellow fellows, there is water and steamed buns ten miles ahead, and we won't accept any money. Everyone, hold on, go to the front."
rest!"
When they heard that there was free food ahead, the refugees became energetic and accelerated their pace.