Crowned the New Han Dynasty

Chapter 451: All mountains and rivers in Guanjin City are taxed

She Cao, Shi Bo and Qian Bo are all official positions. She Cao is in charge of the currency, salt and iron affairs in the county, while City Bo is in charge of the market. As for Qian Bo, as the name mentioned, he is in charge of minting currency. , the full name is Du Zhu Qian Tu.

As soon as these three Cao officials arrived, together with several other people in the room, the entire economic, financial and market system officials of Dai County could be said to have gathered together.

The county, as a level below the state, had a lot of power in Xinhan, and its yamen were also quite complete. Compared with the central government, there were various yamen departments, and it was regarded as a miniature imperial court.

After Chen Zhi took over the affairs of Daijun, he was familiar with each department of the county government and had no further interference, let alone abolition or replacement of personnel.

Therefore, the people in these various bureaucracies are still the same team. For example, Wang Zhen, the young commander of the county, who is in front of him now, is a member of the Daijun Wang family.

The county magistrate's office is in charge of the county's finances, but it is mainly responsible to the county governor. The county governor has the power to control the money he manages.

As for Bicao Zhou Jian, he was in charge of verifying the population, household registration, and property status of counties and counties. According to Chen Zhi's understanding, this person was the son-in-law of the Zhou family.

As for Cang Cao Zhai Xiao, his authority can be seen from his official position, which is related to the management of granaries.

Chen Zhi called them here because he naturally wanted to know about Daijun Yamen's money and food expenditure and ask questions at any time. However, compared to asking them, Chen Zhi was more checking the files because these files were more intuitive.

When he was checking it, the officials did not dare to disturb his thoughts.

After giving the instructions, Chen Zhi lowered his head and glanced a few more times. Several other people in the room looked at each other faintly, and they all saw worry in their eyes.

These few of them are either related by marriage to aristocratic families, or they are recommended by aristocratic families, or they are the children of local rich and powerful families, so they all know about the invitation of the border army, and they are quite worried about Chen Zhi. They don't know How to deal with it, but being called over suddenly makes you feel uneasy.

No one spoke, and the atmosphere in the room suddenly became solemn.

When Shecao Zhugeyue, Shiyan Tianqi, and Qianyan Zhuhu, who had been called by name, arrived, the tense atmosphere in the air could be broken.

"Chief, are you looking for us?" As soon as Zhuge Yue arrived, he saluted respectfully, and the other two followed closely. Then he glanced at Shaofu Wang Zhen and others with some doubts, and frowned slightly. The same worry arose in my heart.

"I called you here because I want to know what the current situation is in the market in Daijun." Chen Zhi sat at the table and asked someone to arrange seats for the new arrivals. Then he asked, "Earlier the Huns invaded." , all parties responded hurriedly, and the people in the city also evaded it. The market has recovered a lot in the past few days, and there are many merchants coming and going, but I have read the files above, and there seems to be some problems with the harvest. "

When several people heard this, their hearts skipped a beat, and then Wang Zhen hurriedly said: "Prefect, you came from the south, so you don't know something. Although our Daijun does a lot of business, we are threatened by the Huns and have been asking for help. The general sent people to protect us, so [-]% of the proceeds from the journey must be handed over to the general, otherwise the barbarians will wreak havoc, and anyone from An Neng who comes to do business will have already changed their route."

Chen Zhi glanced at him and said with a smile: "Dai County is surrounded by the Xiongnu to the west, Youzhou to the east, and Xianbei to the north. It has access to both. It is also a transportation hub. Merchants come here to sell goods and can supply three families. If There is no need to think that this route will not be abandoned, and the tax from Guanjin will continue."

Wang Zhen was startled and said nothing.

However, the money man Zhu Hu took the words and said: "Prefect, that's not how the account is calculated. My county is short of food and can't support itself. How can we support the guarding army? Besides, it is unwise to consume like this. There is a general." We have enough soldiers, but if we don’t have brave soldiers, who will travel? If we don’t have travel, where can we collect the tax from Guanjin? Therefore, a large part of this tax must be allocated to the general’s government.”

Perhaps considering that the border army was planning something and was afraid of irritating Chen Zhi, Zhu Hu did not mention Wang Quan's name or garrison troops, but the "army of the general" he referred to was undoubtedly It's the frontier army in the north.

Chen Zhi still chuckled lightly and added: "But it seems to me that business travelers are all traveling from north to south, and the goods they bring are all-encompassing, including things from the grassland and things from the south. It can be seen that they are all wealthy people. Don’t they want to buy something in Dai County?”

In the household transfer system of Xinhan, there is also a system similar to the commercial tax, which is called customs tax, store tax, and mountain tax. The customs tax can be understood as a road tax, which is collected through checkpoints on the road. Most of them are located in key places or on the edges of national borders, and there are many in Daijun.

Because this kind of checkpoint on the road itself has the function of security and protection, and is one of the safety guarantees for merchants coming and going. Generally, they will not deliberately detour, otherwise they will deserve it if they encounter bandits.

At the same time, passes were also places for inspection and inspection, and were a means for the dynasty to maintain stability.

Store tax, also known as city tax, is similar to the later commodity transaction tax.

Most of the businesses in Xinhan were located in markets, and you had to pay money to get started. The government also had special officials to estimate the amount of transactions and collect money. This was the city tax.

In addition, there is the mountain and swamp tax. This part is actually aimed at the development of mountains and rivers. Except for salt and iron deposits and other things that are monopolized by the government, other mining, picking, etc. can be opened to the people, but the mining People need to pay government property, which is the Shanze tax.However, many mountains and rivers are currently occupied by wealthy families, and the court's income in this area is becoming increasingly scarce.

In addition, the mine owned by the Chen family in Pengcheng was mined in the name of the imperial court. Most of it was handed over to the imperial court, and a small part was kept for the family. The portion that was handed over also included the mountain tax.

In the case of Daijun, not many of the mountains, rivers and rivers are occupied by aristocratic families. Because of the special environment here, the aristocratic families are forced to pay more attention to the population rather than the wilderness - no matter how beautiful the mountains and rivers are, without protection, barbarians will invade. That's when it gets bad.

But similarly, mountains and rivers that no one exploits will not bring enough income to the government. Daijun's main income from business comes from the first two.

But as soon as Zhu Hu opened his mouth, he slapped his hat on and confidently allocated a large part of the customs tax to Wang Jun.

Chen Zhi didn't argue with him, but talked about store tax.

The person who spoke this time was the merchant Tian Qi. He cupped his hands and said with a respectful expression: "To the prefect, most of our Daijun people are poor. How can we buy a lot of things? The merchants who come from north to south can't do it." How long they will stay, they won't sell too much here. They sell valuable things from the Central Plains to the grassland, and sell rare things from the grassland to the south. They come back and get a lot of money, but their things It is very expensive and cannot be afforded by people in small places. Since no one buys it, there is not much city tax. Fortunately, there are many carriages and horses coming and going, carrying heavy goods, so it is a lot of trouble. "

"So what if it's a lot, don't most of them have to be handed over?" Chen Zhi said deliberately. Seeing the awkward expressions on several people's faces, he changed the subject and asked pretending to be confused: "Don't we, Daijun, have nothing to attract merchants?" , let them buy in a big way?"

"Where can we find it?" Tian Qi smiled bitterly, "We are not enough to support the people, so how can we have excess production? Moreover, in the eyes of people in the south, the things we produce are sparse and ordinary, not as good as the fur items on the grassland. .”

Nashe Cao Zhuge Yue also added: "Yes, and we don't have any mineral deposits in Daijun. We have to buy salt and iron from outside. If there is anything left to sell to others, we can't collect much city tax."

No mineral deposits?That's not right.

Chen Zhi's heart moved. He knew that this county was located in Yu County in the first life. It was a well-preserved coal mine in Hebei, and different mineral deposits were unearthed in several surrounding counties.

However, he knew very well that times were different, and the technical limitations of exploration and mining were not so easy to discover. Even if Chen Zhi knew that there was something hidden in future generations, he would have no clue if he were asked to find it now. One thing cannot be judged.

"Now is not the time to use the 'Square Finding Talisman'. We have to make sure that nothing goes wrong. Besides, even if I find the mine now, the power I have now is not enough to keep it. It is equivalent to making Wang Jun's wedding dress. I can't do it for Wang Jun." also."

Thinking about this, he said: "According to what you said, our generation of county is really miserable. There is not enough food for ourselves. In order to let the soldiers support us, we have to divide most of the limited harvest to the general's mansion. All kinds of necessities have to be purchased from outside.”

Several people looked more and more embarrassed. Wang Zhen wanted to talk again, but Chen Zhi waved his hand.

"However, I understand what you are saying. Do you mean that if you have enough troops, you can save part of the customs tax? If you produce something, you can collect more market taxes?"

Several people looked at each other, and it was Wang Zhen who said: "To have enough troops and horses, we need money and food. How can we afford them? Besides, we have to ask the general to talk about it. It's not as good as now. It's not necessary." Worrying about the military affairs, as for this production, it is really not Daijun’s strong point, so you can’t force it.”

"Well, you are right." Chen Zhi nodded, "In that case, you should retreat first, and I will think about it carefully. I called you here today just to understand the situation."

Everyone left without doubting his presence.

But as they walked, Na Tian Qi couldn't help but said: "Although the prefect mentioned soldiers and horses, he seemed to have the intention of providing for himself, so don't offend the general, it will cause trouble."

"There is no need to worry," Wang Zhen shook his head, "The former prefect Lu District also asked about this matter, but even if he did, there is no possibility of implementation. After all, there is no money and food, so everything is out of the question. The situation in Daijun is like this In this way, several governors will not be able to change things. The most they can do is make more money and food with our family, and I think this governor Chen is no exception."

At the same time, Chen Zhi was also mumbling in the room.

"Money and food, money and food, these two are the foundation. If you want to gain a foothold and be stable, you must have money and food."

After thinking about it, Chen Zhi took a look at the time and went to deal with the complicated government affairs. After resting for a while, someone came to report that people from Xiapi had arrived, and there were more than a hundred people.

"Just in time!" Chen Zhi's eyes lit up.

(End of this chapter)