My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 371 Salt and Iron
In the end, Huyan Qiedang was still reluctant to accept the mission and reluctantly embarked on the long journey back to the grassland.

The negotiation results were basically consistent with the bottom line Liu Rong had set before the last meeting;
The Huns exchanged a vast expanse of frozen land for peace for the next two years.

- To be precise, the Huns exchanged thousands of miles of land centered on the Xianbei and Wuheng Mountains for Liu Rong's promise of "not actively destroying peace."

But like all the contracts reached between the Han and the Xiongnu in the past few decades: this contract has almost no effect that can effectively restrict the two parties, and is a completely gentleman's agreement.

People in later generations often say: The only meaning of a treaty is to be torn up.

In the next two years, either the Han or the Xiongnu may tear up the treaty at any time.

The Xiongnu might pretend to obey but secretly disobey, promising to cede a thousand miles of land in the East China Sea on the surface, but actually obstructing the Han Dynasty in every possible way to prevent it from gaining actual control over this land.

The Han Dynasty might also openly repair the plank road while secretly attacking Chencang - verbally agreeing to the Xiongnu's request to "maintain peace", but actually preparing for war and eyeing the grassland.

However, both parties will think carefully before tearing up the treaty.

One party will only choose to tear up a treaty when the benefits of tearing up the treaty are greater than the benefits of abiding by the terms of the treaty.

For example, if the Xiongnu people ever felt that ceding the East China Sea was too much of a loss, it would be more cost-effective to fight a war.
Or maybe one day, the Han Dynasty suddenly felt that the East China Sea was not attractive anymore, and that Hexi or Munan were more attractive...

"A gentleman's agreement was signed between two countries that are not very 'gentlemen'..."

"Ah;"

"I wonder how that old military official will respond?"

After seeing Hu Yanqie Dang off, Liu Rong thought as he watched the official beside him put away the freshly-written contract between the Han and Xiongnu and solemnly send it to the royal archive storage room: Shiqu Pavilion.

It is obvious that in the next two years, neither the Han nor the Xiongnu, which have signed a peace treaty, will fully abide by the treaty.

Although the Xiongnu could temporarily put their minds at ease with this treaty and temporarily focus their energy on the west, the Xiongnu Chanyu Court headed by Junchen would also leave a backup plan in Munan, Hexi - and even the East China Sea.

Needless to say, Mu'nan and Hexi were strategic key points that the Xiongnu absolutely did not want to be occupied by the Han Dynasty, so they would inevitably leave behind a fairly strong defensive force.

Even in the East China Sea, the military officials would at least send people to tell the "masters" of that land - the Xianbei and Wuheng tribes: You are free;
As long as you can stop the Han people from taking your land, this land will belong to you for generations to come.

The same goes for the Han family.

Although it is promised that "no large-scale military action will be launched", the tentative expansion of small-scale troops is inevitable.

If Liu Rong did not suppress it, there might even be a situation where the Han and the Xiongnu discovered slight frictions in the area around Hetao, which would quickly evolve into a war.

Both the Han and the Xiongnu were obviously well aware of this.

But after sending Hu Yanqie Dang away, Liu Rong's attention was no longer on the northern grasslands...

"Send it over."

With a whisper, a group of officials rushed in from outside the hall and brought up several wooden boxes that looked extremely heavy.

Then, one after another, bamboo slips sealed with lacquer and seals were delivered to Liu Rong's desk in order.

Over the past few years - to be precise, from the third year of Emperor Xiaojing, when Crown Prince Liu Rong was regent, to the second year of Liu Rong's Xinyuan;
During these five years, Liu Rong's general central idea for the internal governance of the Han Dynasty was actually to maintain the core of the Wen and Jing emperors: light taxes and recuperation.

The only slight difference is that compared with the two previous emperors who simply "tightened their belts" to accumulate wealth and power, Liu Rong put more energy into "increasing revenue".

——When it comes to national finances, whether we want to improve them or speed them up, there are thousands of ways to do it, but they all fall into two categories: increasing revenue or reducing expenditure.

Over the past few decades, Emperors Lai Wen and Jing did their utmost to "cut spending", allowing the Han Dynasty to accumulate a huge amount of wealth in the treasury while maximizing the protection of people's livelihood and reducing pressure on the grassroots.

After Crown Prince Liu Rong became regent, the new national fiscal model, which centered on government-run grain and supplemented by ceramics and luxury goods, undoubtedly accelerated this process.

In the past, the reason why the Han Dynasty's treasury and savings had been steadily increasing was mainly because the previous emperors Wen and Jing lived frugally, spent as little money as possible, and saved the head tax that belonged to the Shaofu Treasury among the central government's fiscal revenue to the maximum extent.

This is like an old man who lives frugally and saves around 4700 or 800 yuan from his 5000 yuan monthly pension. After ten or twenty years of hard work, he actually saves a huge sum of one million yuan!

When Liu Rong took charge of the Han family's finances, it was like a grandchild inheriting millions of savings left by his grandfather or father.
But Liu Rong did not stick to the old ways and continued to save more than 5,000 yuan every month from his 6,000 yuan pension.

Instead, he followed his father and grandfather's example and saved money from his retirement salary while also finding several part-time jobs.

These part-time jobs include: grain official business;

The second is pottery.

Over the past five years, relying on the monopoly of the Guanzhong grain market, even when the grain prices were pushed down to ultra-low prices of more than 30 coins per dan of millet and more than 50 coins per dan of wheat, the Shaofu Treasury still made a profit of at least one coin per dan of grain.

——There are tens of millions of people in Guanzhong, nearly two million households;

Based on the annual grain output value of 300 dan per household, the total grain output in Guanzhong is as high as 600 million dan!

Even if we take into account the replanting of old wheat in winter, which will further deplete the soil's fertility and cause a certain degree of decline in grain production, there will still be at least 500 million shi of millet and more than 200 million shi of wheat.

Seven hundred million shi of grain every year!

According to the adult male grain consumption standard of 24 shi per person per year, Guanzhong's annual grain output is enough to feed nearly 30 million people!

Today, under the Han Dynasty, the Manchu Communist Party has a population of only over 30 to less than 40 million. The grain output in Guanzhong alone is enough to feed most people in the world!

In fact, as early as a hundred years ago, Guanzhong had already been the granary of China's Central Plains.

The 800-li Qinchuan, plus the "isolated" Bashu land connected only by the Shu Road - these two granaries together can almost bear the daily food consumption of the entire Chinese nation. At the end of the Warring States period, it was precisely with these two granaries that the Qin State could easily control the lifeline of other countries.

States with a lower degree of control, such as Wei and Zhao, although not completely afraid to go against Qin, would almost certainly suffer from food shortages throughout the country once a war broke out with Qin. They could only rely on other countries to "save the country in a roundabout way" and buy food from Qin.

Those with a higher degree of control, such as Qi, became the only country among the six Kanto countries that surrendered without a fight and knelt down to pay tribute.

Even earlier, the story of Guan Zhong assisting Duke Huan of Qi in alleviating the suffering of the nine princes with the benefits of fish and salt clearly told future generations that the issue of food security had already attracted the attention of the Chinese ruling class as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period thousands of years ago.

Let’s get back to the present.

The official grain supply from the Shaofu treasury ensured the absolute stability of the Guanzhong grain market, which was naturally an achievement at the political level.
Even if you don't make money or even lose money, it is still necessary and valuable to do.

But after all, it was during the reigns of Emperors Wen and Jing that the famous "Pi Xiu" was created - all projects handled by the Shaofu Treasury would make money.

Is this not?

The government-run grain production had a profit margin of one penny per stone of grain, but it actually brought a huge income of 700 million pennies a year to the Shaofu treasury.

Seven hundred million yuan a year means thirty-five hundred million yuan in the past five years.

You should know that the total expenditure of the Han Dynasty in the entire Hetao Campaign was only 400 million coins!
The profits that the Shaofu Treasury had earned from the official grain and rice over the past five years almost covered the expenses of this battle!

If this is not intuitive enough, let's look at another set of data.

——Emperor Taizong Xiaowen reigned for twenty-seven years, plus the first three years of Emperor Xiaojing, a total of thirty years. The treasury left by his father and grandfather for Liu Rong accumulated a huge savings of nearly 30 million yuan.

On average, it would be about 100 million yuan per year.

Considering that during the reign of Emperor Taizong, the population of the country was still in the low 20s and less than 30 million, the annual head tax of 40 coins per person would only bring in less than 120 million coins;

In other words, during the reign of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen, the Shaofu Treasury saved at least 100 million yuan every year from the taxes collected from 1.1 to 1.2 million people.

Why is it 'at least one hundred million' instead of around one hundred million?
Don’t forget - the family fortune accumulated by Emperor Taizong Xiaowen was lost by the previous emperor!
The Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms of Wu and Chu!

During the Wu-Chu Rebellion, the 3,000 gold bounty given by Emperor Xiaojing and Empress Dowager Dou to Zhou Yafu and Dou Ying before the army set out to quell the rebellion, plus the rewards given to the generals, amounted to an expenditure worth tens of millions of coins.

If we add the years before that, the management of the Chang'an court in the Liang capital Suiyang, as well as the consumption of food and supplies in the process of suppressing the rebellion;
——It is no exaggeration to say that the Wu-Chu Seven Kingdoms Rebellion, which lasted only three months, cost the Han Dynasty's Chang'an central government up to 300 million coins.

With these references, it is not difficult to understand the concept of the annual profit of 700 million coins from the official grain of the Shaofu treasury.

The annual fiscal revenue of the Shaofu Imperial Treasury is: head tax, roughly 120 to 300 million coins;
The profit of 700 million coins from the official grain caused the financial revenue of the Shaofu Treasury to surge by more than 50% in an instant!

In addition, in the past few years, the ceramics that Liu Rong had tinkered with had also brought a huge amount of wealth to the Shaofu treasury.

Taking all these factors into consideration, there were many different opinions outside the court about the financial situation of the Han Dynasty during the years when Liu Rong was in power.

Some people say that Liu Rong was born to be a good money-maker, and that the treasury of the Shaofu became richer and richer under Liu Rong's control, which was a blessing for the country.

Some people also said that Liu Rong easily made the Shaofu treasury richer and richer. Considering that Liu Rong was not yet mature, this might have made Liu Rong feel proud and made some overly arrogant decisions.

——In the past year or so, the successive Han-Xiongnu War and the Hetao-Mayi Campaign have proved that Liu Rong has become arrogant, conceited, and even militaristic.

If we continue to let it go, Liu Rong, who holds the treasury of the Shaofu and can start a war at any time without the consent of the outside court, will probably make the Han Dynasty fall apart...

Some say it is good, some say it is bad, and most people naturally just take a wait-and-see attitude.

--Lets see.

——Whether it is good or bad, don’t just guess;
If it is a good thing, then we can wait until Liu Rong does something good, such as reducing taxes or raising the salaries of officials, and then we can sing his praises.

On the contrary, if it is a bad thing, there is no need to worry too much. When Liu Rong really does something outrageous, the East Palace will have two empress dowagers to "advise" the misguided young emperor.

As this view became mainstream, people inside and outside the Han court basically looked closely at the Shaofu's treasury affairs with a magnifying glass, especially those that passed through Liu Rong's hands and had Liu Rong's interference.

Regardless of whether Liu Rong is good or bad, and whether the treasury of the Shaofu under Liu Rong's control is getting better or worse, these people seem to want to find some indisputable evidence and will not give up until they achieve their goal.

It was also in this high-intensity "gaze" that Liu Rong, after sending away the Xiongnu delegation, resolutely began his second step plan for the Han central finances.

——Salt and iron!
As early as five years ago, when the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms of Wu and Chu was quelled and the fifth son of the late emperor was conferred the title of King of Jiangdu, Liu Rong had already been secretly planning for this day.

Especially shortly after the Wu-Chu Rebellion was quelled and Prince Shunli became regent, Liu Rong incorporated the entire former Wu territory, including Jiangdu State, into his own 'Emperor Rong's Exclusive Economic Zone'.

This special economic zone is different from the prosperous and advanced representative areas in later generations;
——The greatest significance of this area to Liu Rong is salt and iron!
Jingwu has many copper mines, and nearly half of its borders are adjacent to the sea;

Therefore, under the rule of Liu Bi, the former King of Wu, Wu's copper smelting industry and fishery and salt industry made Wu the richest country in the entire Guandong region - a larger and more powerful country than Liang, which had the support of the emperor, or Qi, which enjoyed the benefits of industry and commerce.

Relying on the profits from minting coins and boiling salt, King Liu Bi of Wu even exempted all levies and taxes from the people of Wu for a time!

As a citizen of the Wu State, not only do you not have to pay even a copper coin to the government throughout the year, but you will also receive rewards from the government for various reasons!
It was also because of this foundation that when the Wuchu Rebellion broke out, King Liu Bi of Wu was able to "practice what he said" - he said to mobilize all the male men in the country who could fight, and he actually mobilized almost all the men in Wu.

However, in the Wu Kingdom at that time, copper was smelted only for minting coins, and salt was made by brine.

What Liu Rong wanted to do was to develop the steel industry as quickly as possible based on the copper smelting industry!

As for salt~
As a time traveler, Liu Rong really couldn't think of anything that was easier and less valuable than making salt...

(End of this chapter)