I studied in modern times

Chapter 929 Supporting compradors (1)

Salt! Iron! Wine!
Whether it is Wen Yanbo, Zhang Fangping, Feng Jing, Zhao Zongsheng, Zhao Zongjing, Zhao Zonghui, Cao Yi, Yan Da, or Miao Shou.

After hearing what Zhao Xu said, these three words were the only ones in my mind.

no way!
Ever since Sang Hongyang implemented the salt and iron monopoly method, the state has monopolized business.

These three things are the most profitable businesses in the world!
The profits are so huge that every year countless people risk their lives and the death of their entire family to participate in it.

Although, in today's Song Dynasty, the quality of these three businesses has declined.

Because the more profitable textile and sugar trades are rising strongly.

But, this is still one of the best deals in the world!
Even though Goryeo had lost more than half of its territory, its population suffered heavy losses.

But after all, it is still a big country in the east China sea, with a territory of thousands of miles and a population of millions.

If each person takes out a penny every day, it would be a mountain of gold and silver in a year.

What's more...

The ministers looked at each other and laughed strangely in their hearts.

This is because they all have a large group of retainers who are dedicated to their livelihoods and are good at business, and they manage their huge businesses.

Even military officials like Yan Da and Miao Shou were like this.

This is the officialdom of the Song Dynasty.

Use officials as businessmen, use money to communicate with officials, officials are the shield of businessmen, and money is the road to officials.

Since the day the country was founded, the civil and military dignitaries have been entangled with Brother Kong Fang and cannot be separated.

It is in the past few decades, because Fan Wencheng launched the ancient Chinese literature revival movement, the number of scholars in the world has increased exponentially, and the powerful and wealthy have to protect their reputation, so they have restrained themselves a little and their eating habits have become more refined.

Otherwise, during the time of Taizu, Taizong, and Zhenmiao, the rich and powerful were greedy for money and did not hide it. Why would they need to create a vest and put a white glove in front of people?

At that time, the rich and powerful who made money would end up in trouble!
For example, when Li Hanchao, a general of Taizu, was the military commander at Waqiaoguan, he abducted women, plundered people's property, and did not repay the money he borrowed.

Even if the lawsuit is brought before Taizu, it will be useless!
Taizu said to the victims who filed complaints to the emperor at that time - this is my beloved general, and he is also your umbrella of protection!
How about this!
I will make the decision and let Li Hanchao suffer a little loss.

The beauty he robbed will become his concubine from now on!
As for the beautiful woman’s husband, just go back and marry another one. I will pay for your new wife!
As for the money he borrowed, I helped him pay it back!
As for you, apologize to Li Hanchao, then go back and reflect on yourselves. Let's forget about this matter and never mention it again, so as not to tarnish the innocence of my beloved general!
You know, it is very difficult for a country to train a general!
Li Hanchao eventually died of old age as the governor of Yingzhou, the judge of Qizhou and the inspector of the troops at Waqiaoguan. When Emperor Taizong heard about it, he stopped his court to mourn, bestowed upon him the title of Taiwei and the governor of the Zhongwu Army, and sent an envoy to erect a monument for him at Waqiaoguan.

And people like Li Hanchao were even considered "benevolent generals" in the early days of the country.

Because he just raped the girl and didn't pay back the money.

He did not do things like other humanoid generals and dignitaries of his time, such as killing people in the streets, allowing his soldiers to plunder, or even cannibalism.

He even did it so infrequently that some people speculated that he was defiled himself.

Although more than a hundred years have passed since the founding of the country.

However, even if the powerful and wealthy wear wide robes with big sleeves and tall hats and wide belts, their cannibalistic nature remains unchanged in their bones.

Han Qi, Duke Zhongxian of Han, is famous throughout the world.

But the entire Xiangzhou is now almost the Han family’s private land.

The fertile land in Xiangzhou belongs either to the Han family or to their relatives and old friends.

How did these fields become the property of the Han family and their relatives?
It couldn't be that Tian Qi had a spirit and knew about Han Qi, Duke Zhongxian of Han, who had served three emperors and supported two emperors, so he flew to the hands of the Han family on his own initiative!

Therefore, after hearing Zhao Xu's words, all the ministers were in confusion.

So much so that some people couldn't even remember what Zhao Xu said to him afterwards?

He just thanked the emperor in a daze, then followed the emperor out of Jiying Hall in a daze, and was helped to the inner palace granted by the emperor to sleep in a daze.

Until the next day, when I returned home, there was still someone there, and I felt like I was dreaming.

But Zhao Xu didn't have time to care about all these.

On the morning of that day, he went to the rear hall of Chongzheng Hall as planned and summoned the Goryeo envoy Li Ziyi.

Inform him of the results of the Song-Liao negotiations and Zhao Xu's plans.

When Li Ziyi heard this, he was overjoyed at first.

The Song State’s mediation was actually successful!

The Liao ruler agreed and used Kaesong as the boundary and withdrew his troops to make peace.

Then comes fear!

Every year, the tribute to Liao and Song countries is 120,000 taels of silver each!
No arrears allowed!

This made Li Ziyi tremble.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to agree, but he’s afraid that once he agrees, he won’t be able to come up with so much silver.

The Goryeo soldiers will no longer be polite!
At the same time, the Song Dynasty would not offer any assistance.

What’s even worse is that he, as the one who made the decision and agreed to it, will definitely be regarded as an enemy by both countries.

Playing tricks on the Song and Liao countries, not to mention the three clans of the Li family, all nine clans will be wiped out!

So, Li Ziyi could only cry and bow, saying: "Your Majesty, Goryeo is a small country with a weak people. It is difficult for us to cope with such a heavy tribute!"

Li Ziyi naturally knew the actual situation in Goryeo.

This was probably because the Three Kingdoms of Korea were located in the east of the sea. Except for the occasional Japanese merchants who would cross the sea to trade with Goryeo, no merchants from all over the world came.

Goryeo’s most important foreign trade partners were the Jurchen tribes!

The only things the Jurchens could offer were furs and mountain products, which made the commodity economy of Goryeo seriously backward.

Although copper coins were issued, their circulation was very small and the minting quantity was limited.

Therefore, the main form of transaction was barter, and the most mainstream currency was cloth.

What's more troublesome is that most of Goryeo's land is mountainous.

There were very few such fertile lands in Goryeo, and most of them were concentrated north of Pyongyang, around the Yalu River.

Now, all these fertile fields are in the hands of the Liao Kingdom.

All other lands in Goryeo were infertile and produced poor crops.

Where in Goryeo could one get 240,000 taels of silver?
Not to mention every year!

Zhao Xu listened and smiled: "Don't worry, my dear!"

"I have already made plans for Goryeo on this matter!"

"The pawnshops of the Song Dynasty can lend money to Goryeo at an annual interest rate of 2%, which is quite reasonable!"

Li Ziyi raised his head and looked at the little emperor sitting on the throne, his face full of disbelief: "Really?!"

"When did I break my promise to you?" Zhao Xu smiled kindly and said, "Of course, even private lending requires collateral!"

"What's more, Goryeo needs to borrow such a huge sum of money!"

"I have thought about it. Let's use Goryeo's salt, iron, and wine as collateral. If Goryeo can't pay it back, I will allow the pawnshop to buy from Goryeo!"

"This..." Li Ziyi had been in Bian Jing for several months, so he naturally knew that there was a government-run purchasing policy in the Central Plains.

He had even heard that the city of Bianjing alone could earn hundreds of thousands of strings of cash every year from the liquor monopoly alone.

When he found out about it, he was very envious.

But precisely because of this, he knew that these Central Plains policies had no room for implementation in Goryeo.

Therefore, the custom of Goryeo was to barter.

Copper coins, a currency widely circulated in the Central Plains, were used as transaction vouchers among dignitaries in Goryeo.

The people don’t even have money, how can they buy salt, iron and wine?
Cloth, food, or firewood, hay, or straw?
Does Zhongyuan want these things?

Even if you are willing to accept it, you will probably have to pay a huge shipping fee to ship it back to the Central Plains across the sea.

Therefore, Li Ziyi could only lie on the ground and say, "Your Majesty!"

"It's not that Goryeo doesn't allow it, it's that Goryeo is incompetent!"

"The land of Goryeo and the Three Kingdoms of Korea was not originally a place where boats and carriages from all directions could meet. It was not rich in products and had no commercial benefits. The people's livelihood depended only on the fertility of the land. However, the land south of the Yalu River is mostly mountainous, and fertile land is hard to come by, which is rare..."

"In addition, Goryeo also has no currency, so there is no market. Soldiers, civilians, and nobles all use cloth and silver to make ends meet. For daily necessities, they use rice to calculate the penny!"

"If I rashly agree, your merchants will not be able to benefit... Even if I die a thousand times, I will never be able to thank you for your grace!"

Zhao Xu listened, looked at this powerful official of the Goryeo family who was later killed, and chuckled, "Why do you have such worries?"

"Goryeo has no money, the Song Dynasty can import it for them!"

It just so happens that the imperialists’ means of economic plunder are mainly based on finance!

The Jiaozi and iron coins of the Song Dynasty could appear in the Goryeo market and be used as Goryeo currency.

"As for how the merchants of the Song Dynasty will profit?" Zhao Xu smiled and said, "You don't need to worry about that, my dear!"

Salt, iron, and wine are all state-run monopolies, but they cannot make any money.

Well, the merchants of the Song Dynasty had better find a rope and hang themselves as soon as possible to avoid embarrassment and being branded as the shame of imperialism and laughed at by future generations.

Of course!
The Goryeo king and his ministers must be appeased.

After all, the decision has been made to sustainably exhaust all the fish.

Then, we should support compradors in Goryeo.

Ask heroes to deal with heroes, and ask good men to deal with good men.

Otherwise, the Song Dynasty would interfere in Goryeo's internal affairs across the East China Sea, and many things would inevitably be overlooked.

It’s much more convenient with a comprador!

The Goryeo people, for the next thousand years, were all big power-seeking.

The essence of great powerism lies in strength!
They will serve whoever is stronger!

And he is the kind of loyal person who will never regret his actions even if he dies!
However, when it comes to training Goryeo, the most powerful one is Dengta.

The Lighthouse used only one more trick to train Gao Li than others - choose those who are obedient and make them rich!
Let the compradors get rich!

Let them become chaebols!

Share South Korea’s wealth and power with it!
So he became loyal and never betrayed anyone again. From then on, Gao Li served Dengta more filially than his own son.

Zhao Xu has always been a person who strives to emulate the wise and is good at learning.

Coincidentally, the contact and understanding during these days made Zhao Xu realize that the future Goryeo foreign relative and powerful official in front of him was a good candidate for comprador.

If we can support him, he can become the spokesperson of the Song Dynasty in Goryeo.

Many things can be done.

(End of this chapter)