Northern Dynasties

Chapter 172

Li Tai felt that he had thrown out a king bomb, Yu Wentai must be full of praise for him again, and Yu Jin and others would also look at him with admiration.

So when he finished speaking, he paused deliberately, just to leave time for everyone to praise and sigh, but he waited for a while, but the expected praise did not sound, only Yu Wentai said in a daze: " Let’s keep talking! How are Yanzheng and Tuntian related?”

Seeing that these three people really didn't understand, Li Tai couldn't help but sigh, as expected, the prophets are all lonely.

However, at this pause, he also had some doubts in his heart, whether the method of opening China that he was going to offer to explain was suitable for the historical background of the Western Wei Dynasty.

After pondering for a while, he asked again: "I would like to ask you, how is the country's salt industry supervised now? How about the officials and the people?"

"Salt used by the government and the people comes from two salt ponds in Hedong and Xi'an prefectures. Governors are set up to control the salt tax, and the government and the people give it to each other according to their own convenience."

This question is a bit narrow, and Yu Wentai didn't answer it immediately, so Yu Jin spoke after a little thought.

That's it?Gone?
Li Tai was also a little confused when he heard this answer, and after a moment of consideration, he said: "The salt industry is related to the national economy and the people's livelihood, and the imperial court has no laws and regulations to monitor it carefully?"

It was Yu Jin who explained again: "In the previous dynasty, there was indeed an old custom of selling salt in the official salt market, but the salt officials were often corrupt and full of evils. The country was compassionate to the people, and did not compete for profits with the people. Occasionally set up a salt department, but most of the salt ponds cannot help..."

In Li Tai's conception, the salt monopoly seems to be one of the characteristics of the feudal dynasty.But after listening to Yu Jin's explanation, he realized that since the founding of the country in the Northern Wei Dynasty, there was no monopoly on the salt industry, but only tax profits.

After the restructuring of Taihe, a salt official was set up for a period of time, but it only met the needs of the ban and the government. The more general salt production and trading have not been interfered much.

After the separation of East and West in the Northern Wei Dynasty, although Yanchi in Hedong and Xi'an Prefecture belonged to the Western Wei Dynasty, the imperial court did not rule much about it.

The production and sales of Yanchi on the Hedong side are mainly controlled by the rich families of Hedong, such as Pei, Liu, and Xue.

The reason why these powerful families fell to the Western Wei Dynasty was mainly based on the appeal of the interests of the salt industry, in addition to the legal system brought about by Xiaowu's westward migration.

The power of the Western Wei Dynasty was weak, and it had to rely on the big clans of Hedong to resist the attack of the Eastern Wei Dynasty. In addition, the main markets of Hedong salt such as Guanzhong and Western Henan were all under the control of the Western Wei Dynasty.

Yanchi in Xi'an Prefecture is an area where miscellaneous Hus gather, and production must be guaranteed by force. Since the Western Wei Dynasty did not have many troops stationed in Beizhou, the interests of Yanchi are not fully controlled, and there are still many Hu tribes such as Di Qiang participating. in.

In short, although the salt ponds in the two places were located under the rule of the Western Wei Dynasty, due to various reasons, the Tyrant Mansion could not completely control the production and sales of the salt industry, and the profits of the salt industry were mainly controlled by the local tyrants and border Hu chiefs. in their hands.

After learning about this, Li Tai was a little dumbfounded. The basis for the implementation of the Sino-French law is to establish the country's systematic control over the salt industry. The government uses salt as a bargaining chip in exchange for the power of the people to send supplies and grass to the border villages.

But now we don't even have this foundation, so what are we talking about?
Yu Jin's so-called not competing with the people for profit is just bullshit.Since the founding of the Western Wei Dynasty, there have been frequent wars, and the average farmers in Guanzhong are about to get their shit out. When there is a famine, it is a crime to even store food at home. Does this count as fighting for the interests of the people?

In the final analysis, the political authority is still insufficient in prestige and dominance, and the profits of the salt industry are blocked by local tyrants, and cross-regional control and scheduling cannot be achieved.

It should be noted that the monopoly of salt and iron is not just as simple as directly collecting benefits, but the overall adjustment of national resources formed by this is the most important.

However, the Western Wei government is currently only integrating resources based on household registration, rent adjustment, and war capture. The savings of people in Guanzhong can only be concentrated in Guanzhong, and it is not easy to dispatch to other places. At least in terms of economy, the barriers are severely isolated, and it does not look like a unified regime at all.

Faced with such a situation, Li Tai also felt helpless and a little bit blind.Many of his follow-up ideas are based on the fact that opening up the Chinese law can be implemented. If this cannot be done, many things will become very difficult to do.

Yu Wentai saw that Li Tai was still full of confidence just now, but now his will was depressed, and he was quite curious in his heart, so he said: "If you have any difficulties in strategy, it's okay to speak up. If it can really benefit the national economy, why not be afraid difficult!"

Hearing Yu Wentai's encouragement, Li Taicai cheered up and continued: "The basis of the minister's plan is to close the government to make salt. The Taiwan government determines how much salt will be produced, and the number of households in the prefecture and county will be sold. The salt produced is [-]. The stone is used to attract [-] pieces of salt, and the people sell it, so that the market must not be flooded, so that all the people can enjoy this taste, the salt has a fixed supply, and the people have regular food..."

Yu Wentai's eyes lit up when he heard this, but he didn't speak immediately, he just lowered his head to think and weigh.

From the perspective of a ruler, he certainly hopes to strengthen the control and management of the people.If this salt introduction system can be established, regardless of the benefits in it, at least it will add a new method of control over the states and counties to the Bafu, and it can also promote the growth of registered households.

But let alone Xi'an Prefecture, the ownership of Yanchi in Hedong alone is a headache.Hedong is the front line against the Eastern Dynasty. If the foundation of the rule is shaken because of salt interests, the loss cannot be compensated by money interests.

Now that he has spoken, Li Tai no longer worries about whether this policy is feasible, but only speaks out his own ideas, and let Yu Wentai worry about whether it can be done and what step can be achieved.

Yu Wentai's understanding and control of the regime is much more comprehensive and in-depth than his own, and he is only responsible for making policies, and he has no right to worry about other things.

Then he went on to say: "After the Yanyin is established, we can base ourselves on this, let the people transport grain to the side, calculate the transportation distance and quantity, distribute it to Yanyin, and take the salt for distribution. The most expensive food and fodder is transferred. On the way. If we can reclaim wasteland on the frontier and harvest supplements on the spot, the government and the people will have both conveniences and the army will have enough food!
The southern border of Dongxia Prefecture is rich in water and grass, enough to be farmed, and the people moved to the frontier and the territory of the joint defense.In the territory of Diaoyin, the Siluo River often floods, and the Kuli River in Hexi lacks the convenience of weirs and ditches, and the floods and droughts are uneven. If we can open canals and connect them, it will greatly benefit the place..."

When Li Tai was still in Langtao circle in northern Shaanxi, he already had the idea of ​​establishing a foothold in Nanniwan, farming land and opening up wasteland, and preparing for the frontier defense.Unlike Guanzhong, which is full of powerful people, there is a large piece of wasteland that can be occupied at will. Although the cultivation conditions are not as good as in Guanzhong, they can still win by quantity.

The key point is to connect Luoshui, Kulichuan, and even the clear water above through artificial canals, so that the regional water network can form a whole, and while building a foundation for farmland, defenses can also be set up along the water networks. , Gradually manage northern Shaanxi from a barren state.

The lower reaches of the Luoshui River are the well-developed Guanzhong Plain, which can be used as a large rear area, not only a supply base, but also a vast market.The upper reaches of the Luoshui River are both grazing, farming, and fighting, and can communicate and rationally allocate the resources in the region and the downstream, thereby forming a complementary ecological circle.

Among other things, when Li Tai attacked those Hu tribes before, many captives, cattle and sheep, etc. spoils, because there was no system to digest them, so they had to be discarded. Now thinking about it, Li Tai feels distressed.

However, the deployment of personnel and materials involved in large-scale reclamation in northern Shaanxi is obviously not something Li Tai can do.Even Yu Wentai couldn't do it, otherwise he wouldn't have given up strategically in northern Shaanxi.

However, the opening of the Chinese law can perfectly solve this problem. Through the profit of the salt industry, the surplus human resources in Guanzhong can be dispatched to northern Shaanxi, and it can also alleviate the situation of narrow townships and insufficient arable land in Guanzhong.

After listening to Li Tai's plan as a whole, Yu Wentai's face finally changed, and he stood up, pointing at him and laughing: "Boshan's plan is great, if there is no great ambition to govern the country, how can it be astonishing? Conspiracy! Since the boy got into business, he has made many plans, and all of them can enter my heart. It's so good, it's really, really..."

Excited, he couldn't even find the right words to express it. He walked around the case a little excitedly for a while, and looked at Li Tai with even more fiery eyes. It took him a while to realize that Yu Jin and others were still there. Then he sat back in embarrassment, restrained his expression a little, and turned to Li Tai and said, "If you seized it in the previous battle, you don't need to enter the mansion. It's all yours. Luoshui will set up three defenses, and choose a place to increase the station as soon as possible. Dongxia Prefecture... ...Dongxia Prefecture, do you have any recommendations for a harmonious relationship?"

As soon as this remark came out, not only Yu Jin and Yi Feng who were present were shocked, but Li Tai was also shocked.See what this means, if it wasn't for his age and seniority not enough to control Dazhou, maybe Yu Wentai even arranged for himself the governor of Dongxia Prefecture.

Although Li Tai was not directly appointed as the governor of Dongxia Prefecture, Yu Wentai made it clear that he would choose a candidate who could get along well with him, which meant that Li Tai should be the main one in the subsequent distribution of powers.

Li Tai made a lot of advances in the past, and was also appreciated by Yu Wentai, but it was the first time that such a strong situation like this time.

Now that Yu Wentai has already said so, of course Li Tai will not be polite, regardless of whether Yu Wentai listens to him or not, just saying his name is a favor.

After pondering for a while, he clasped his fists again and said: "Wu'an Gong Li Xianqing is admirable for his loyalty and bravery. I have always admired him. It would be an honor to work with him!"

When Yu Wentai heard that he named Li Mu, he was a little bit surprised at first, but then he laughed again: "Then Li Mu, haha, I'm afraid this member would never have imagined that one day he would be recommended by a young man from the Yitai Mansion for promotion."

Yu Jin and Yi Feng in Xi were deeply moved when they saw that Da Xingtai was so obedient to Li Tai, a young man, and they were even a little envious.

(End of this chapter)