I studied in modern times

Chapter 859 The Most Special Region of the Song Dynasty - Hebei

That evening, Empress Dowager Xiang went to the Qingshou Palace to attend the palace banquet to entertain Xue when she returned to the capital.

Zhao Xu would naturally not attend such a banquet attended by ladies of high rank, so as not to be suspected of being incompatible with others - Zhao Xu's publicly visible age this year is already thirteen.

In the Middle Ages, a thirteen-year-old boy could start a family and start a career.

At the grassroots level in rural areas, there are a large number of men who are engaged or even married at the age of thirteen.

As for girls who get married at the age of thirteen, there is no telling how many there are in this era.

However, Zhao Xu, who stayed in Baoci Palace, was not idle either.

Because today is also the day when the pawnshop officially starts buying.

So, he was waiting for Shi Deyi to come and report to him on the progress of the pawnshop buying today.

This involves millions of strings of cash in revenue from buying bets.

So, even though the people who were buying today were only the most inconspicuous ones among the many pawnshops.

That is, the nine pawnshops outside the new city.

But Zhao Xu still took it very seriously.

What a good start!
If all the nine pawnshops outside the new city were included, they could be sold for a high price.

What about the pawnshops in the new city and inner city of Bianjing?
Zhao Xu, of course, wouldn't think the money is too little!

Soon after the palace gates were locked, Liu Weijian came to Zhao Xu and bowed deeply: "This old servant greets you all..."

"I'm fine!" Zhao Xu sat on the cushion, nodded calmly, and then asked: "Old General, did you buy poker smoothly today?"

Liu Weijian happily reported: "To inform everyone, all the merchants are actively participating in the gambling event today... I have seen with my own eyes that there are more than a hundred merchants who have come to submit their seals..."

Zhao Xu immediately showed his delight and praised: "So many people are participating?!"

"Thank you for your hard work, Old Commander and Left Prime Minister!"

"After I buy the betting this time, I will definitely reward the old commander handsomely!"

"I dare not!" Liu Weijian bowed his head and said, "This time, the purchase of the bet was successful, all thanks to your kindness. I have only contributed a little bit!"

"Old commander, there is no need to take credit for it!" Zhao Xu said, "When my father was alive, he taught me that the first thing a monarch should do is to distinguish rewards and punishments clearly!"

"The old commander has done great service to the country, so I shall reward him!"

Hearing this, Liu Weijian stopped refusing and said, "You are all wise!"

"only……"

"What this old slave said is also sincere!"

"If there is no imperial decree from the Lord to reform the various systems of buying and selling bets, shorten the public notice period, abolish the system of buying and selling again, and send the imperial guards to guard the sealed stake box..."

“All the merchants said: This is the most virtuous and holy thing!”

“So, everyone participated enthusiastically, which led to today’s grand occasion!”

This is true!

Zhao Xu also benefited greatly from listening to it.

In the Song Dynasty, buying lottery tickets (targets) was divided into real sealed tickets (blind bidding) and quota system (according to the purchase amount in previous years, an average value was calculated, and then the merchants would buy at this price. Of course, this was a treatment only for those with connections).

Most of the tickets purchased at the pawnshop this time were bid in sealed form.

That is, merchants fill in a buying price themselves, and then put it in a specially made iron box. On the public announcement day, they open the box and read the bids in the presence of all buyers, and the highest bidder wins.

However, in the past, this procedure had a follow-up - after the bid was opened, if the government felt that the bid price was too low, it could require all buyers to bid again based on the last winning bid price.

This is truly treating merchants as less than human beings and simply as fat pigs to be slaughtered.

Unfortunately, because the final right of interpretation lies in the hands of the government, most people can only swallow their anger.

When Zhao Xu bought the pawnshop this time, he publicly abolished the re-bidding procedure.

A system has been established whereby one bid is awarded to the highest bidder.

At the same time, the procedure for publicizing and reading bids has been greatly accelerated.

According to the past system, bids would generally be announced within sixty days.

This obviously gives many people the opportunity to operate behind the scenes.

Therefore, this time Zhao Xu changed it to public announcement after seven days.

At the same time, the bidding boxes were no longer kept by the government, but Di Yong was ordered to lead his troops to guard them.

Moreover, this imperial guard guarding the standard box was selected by Zhao Xu at random from among the top generals of Yulong by Di Yong.

These reforms have increased the transparency and fairness of betting.

At the same time, it also improves the credibility of this bet.

This can be seen from the enthusiastic participation of merchants, with more than a hundred people participating.

It should be noted that in the Song Dynasty, if one wanted to participate in the government's betting, one must have a mortgage and a guarantee.

The minimum standard for collateral in this pawnbroker is - 100,000 strings of cash!

Considering that most people would not have so much cash, real estate and securities (salt notes, tea permits, land certificates, etc.) were accepted.

In addition, a guarantee must be provided by a civil official of the rank of court official or above, or a military official of the rank of ambassador or above.

In other words, all of the more than one hundred merchants who participated in the purchase of the lottery are truly powerful.

"Old officer, please stand up and talk!" Zhao Xu said, and asked Feng Jing to help Liu Weijian up.

Then he asked, "Please tell me, old officer, the number of people buying tickets at each pawnshop and their situation..."

"Let's estimate again. How much money can the nine pawnshops that bought poker today get?"

Liu Weijian had already stood up by himself when Feng Jing approached.

He bowed his body and said humbly, "Let everyone know..."

"Today, I and the left prime minister have been ordered to limit the number of people who can buy money at the nine pawnshops outside the new city to merchants from Shu, Shaanxi, Hebei, and Hedong..."

"Among them, the Qingmingfang Pawnshop, we, the ministers, have been ordered to allow only merchants from Hebei to participate in the purchase of the bets..."

"But there are still more than ten people who participated in the purchase, and they have all been insured..."

"Han Yao's pawn shop only allows people from Yongxingjun Road, Shangzhou, and Luozhou to buy bets... and more than ten people participated..."

As Zhao Xu listened to Liu Weijian's introduction, the corners of his mouth slowly curled up.

"It seems that there are really a lot of rich people among the people!"

It’s normal if you think about it carefully.

Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, it has adopted economic policies different from those of the Han and Tang Dynasties.

The so-called "not establishing a land system, not suppressing mergers and acquisitions" is just a nice-sounding statement. In fact, the economic policy of the Zhao Song Dynasty was a state-run monopoly economy.

What is a state-run monopoly economy?

Palace standard!
The Zhao officials of all dynasties tried their best to exploit all the resources in the prefectures and counties of the country.

Therefore, the Zhao family was not only the largest landlord in the Song Dynasty - according to the statistics of Mr. Qi Xia in "Economic History of the Song Dynasty", in the sixth year of Yuanfeng, the Northern Song Dynasty had a total of about 7.2 million hectares of reclaimed land, and the number of official fields owned by the Zhao family exceeded 320,000 hectares, accounting for about 4.3% of the total reclaimed land in the world.

Throughout the dynasties, which emperor could own so much land?

The Zhao officials did it!
In addition to land, the Zhao officials also have a large number of workshops, mines, ferries, docks, etc. throughout the prefectures and counties of the country...

The supervisory officials are professional managers who manage these industries on behalf of Emperor Zhao.

The Zhao officials tried their best to reach out to all the resources that the entire dynasty could control.

It seems that the Zhao officials are really overfishing.

The economy of the Song Dynasty should have collapsed, right?
But the opposite is true!
The economy of the Song Dynasty not only did not collapse, but it was the dynasty with the highest fiscal revenue in history!

In the first year of Yuanyou, fiscal revenue reached 70 million strings of cash!

why?
Because the economic foundation determines the upper system. Since the Zhao officials need to gain profits from the commercial activities of the prefectures and counties in the world.

This means that the Zhao officials must actually relax restrictions on private business.

As a result, not only were various discriminatory laws against merchants abolished, but the legitimacy of private property was also recognized.

Citizens in commercial cities like Bianjing had even become accustomed to fighting for property through litigation.

The commodity economy began to impact traditional Confucian ethics.

At the beginning of the country, two prime ministers took the case to the emperor over a rich woman.

This is almost unimaginable in other dynasties!
As things have developed to the present day, Confucianism and business have begun to merge.

Merchants in Fujian and Southeast China began to support young people in their families who were able to study.

After these young people have achieved fame and success, they will in turn provide official protection for the family business.

For example, the families of important officials from Fujian, such as Zhang Dun, Cai Jing, Cai Que, and Lu Huiqing, all have a large number of relatives engaged in business.

The integration of government and business has become the mainstream of the generation.

There are many rich people among the people!

Of course, these people are basically officials and businessmen in combination.

There is always one or several important officials behind him.

Why were people like the Han family of Xiangzhou and the Lu family of Shouzhou able to maintain their standard of living as prime ministers without engaging in corruption?
The answer is here!

After listening to Liu Weijian's introduction, Zhao Xu nodded slightly and said, "Thank you for your hard work, old commander!"

"But there is one thing that I still need the old commander to help me with..."

"Please give your orders!" Liu Weijian immediately expressed his opinion.

"I have always cared about the people of Hebei and valued the people's hearts in Hebei!" Zhao Xu said, "Therefore, after I ascended the throne, I repeatedly issued edicts to extend favors to the gentry of Hebei, and even sent Song Yongchen and others to dredge silt, build roads, and pave bridges in Hebei!"

"All these things are seen by the world and known to the people!"

"This time, the pawnshop is set aside for Hebei Road alone!"

"The old commander should explain this matter in detail to all the merchants in Hebei, and make sure that all the merchants know my love for Hebei!"

"In addition, the old commander can reveal something to the people of Hebei..."

"So, even if you don't win the bid this time, don't worry, I still have something good to offer you!"

Hebei Road!
It is the weak point of the Song Dynasty, and also the most special region of the Song Dynasty.

Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, Hebei Road has been a truly free economic society.

The Zhao officials in Hebei did not monopolize salt, iron, or even liquor.

Allowing civil freedom to grow wildly!

Therefore, Hebei of the Song Dynasty produced wealthy businessmen!

How rich are people in Hebei?
Zhao Xu remembered that in the eighth year of Yuanfeng, officials in Hebei Province reported that a big businessman wanted to buy over the entire salt market in Hebei Province.

And, he offered an astonishing price.

However, after reading the memorial, Zhao Xu immediately rejected it without hesitation, and issued an edict to severely reprimand the officials concerned!

Later, the official who submitted the proposal was demoted on other pretexts.

why?
Because Hebei has united front value!
If Emperor Zhao dares to implement the salt monopoly system in Hebei today, the people of Hebei will have to eat Emperor Zhao’s high-priced salt.

Tomorrow, the people of Hebei will vote with their feet, go to the Liao Kingdom, and become subjects of the Yelu family.

Don't laugh - because, within the territory of the Song Dynasty, there lived a large number of so-called "double-loss households" who had both Liao Dynasty and Song Dynasty household registration.

These people paid taxes and served the Liao Kingdom, as well as the Song Dynasty.

It seems like these losers are going to have a miserable life, right?
The fact is - in the whole world, there is no happier group than the two losing families on the Song-Liao border!
Because Song and Liao were both vying to win them over, unite them, and give them super favorable policies!
For example, the Song Dynasty did not levy taxes on them or require them to serve in the military for a long time.

Later, during the reign of Emperor Renmiao, some people said that it was not a good thing for the two-loss households to not pay taxes.

It would be bad if they did not pay taxes to the Song Dynasty for a long time, causing them to identify themselves as Liao people.

Therefore, the imperial court sent people to ask the two-income households to pay a symbolic amount of tax every year.

Moreover, these taxes are not mandatory.

It’s ok if you pay it or not.

The imperial court would not send people to collect taxes like other places did.

The Liao Kingdom treated these people even better.

Because they were "loyal subjects" who lived in Song territory but paid taxes to the Liao people.

Therefore, successive Liao rulers did their best to win over and favor these people.

Although they paid taxes to the Liao ruler, the Liao people would reward them every time they paid the taxes.

The rewards usually exceed the amount of tax, and sometimes even reach several times the amount of tax!
In addition, neither the Song nor the Liao sides would stop them or impose restrictions when they entered and exited the border trading posts to engage in trade.

Both the Song and Liao sides tried their best to demonstrate their "leniency" and the "institutional superiority" of their regimes to each other's people through these "two-way households" with special status who could travel freely between the Song and Liao countries.

Therefore, for this pawnshop purchase, Zhao Xu still provided special preferential treatment to Hebei Road - a pawnshop outside the new city was allocated specifically to Hebei Road, and only people from Hebei were allowed to buy the pawnshop!

no way!
People from Hebei need to be coaxed!

Otherwise, they would flee to the Liao Kingdom.

The Yelu family has always claimed that they are the legitimate successors of the Tang Dynasty.

Moreover, their family is the descendant of Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang!

They even slandered Emperor Zhao as a "Bian bandit" who "stole the sacred artifact."

Under the Liao people's propaganda offensive, problems often occurred in Hebei.

For this reason, the Zhao officials could only continue to benefit.

In the eighth year of Yuanfeng, after Zhao Xu ascended the throne, he encountered a flood in Hebei.

The entire country was immediately mobilized to provide disaster relief.

After the flood, Zhao Xu ordered Song Yongchen to lead the imperial army and young and strong men to build roads and dredge silt in Hebei.

No one inside or outside the government had any objection to this.

The reason is that all Hebei issues cannot be judged from an economic perspective, but must also be considered from a political perspective.

We can’t let the Liao people win the hearts of the people of Hebei!
Just like the Liao people, who tried every means to prevent the Song Dynasty from winning the hearts of the people of Youyan.

As a result, the border military states of the two countries, which were at the center of the competition between Song and Liao, became the group with the lowest living pressure and the least taxes in this era.

Of course, Zhao Xu did not do these things simply for the sake of benefit.

Instead, they are using Hebei's special status to pry open the stubborn parts of the Song Dynasty's system.

The reason is simple - what is worrying is not the lack of wealth but the inequality of wealth.

This is human nature!
The more preferential treatment Zhao Xu gave to Hebei, the more special it was.

When people from other places see this situation, they will naturally think about it and fight back.

Then, Zhao Xu could follow the will of the people and gradually remove the constraints on the development of the commodity economy.

Therefore, Zhao Xu would subsequently launch the Bian Jing Xin Bao and Bian Jing Yi Bao to extensively report the relevant news.

Let everyone in the world know that there is a Hebei Road in the Song Dynasty.

There is no monopoly on salt, iron, or even liquor here.

Goods can circulate freely, and the tax burden on the people is very low!

This is the journalism trick Zhao Xu learned while studying abroad in modern times - using XX to oppose XX!

(End of this chapter)