Chinese New Year

Chapter 1385 Making a Nest
On the morning of the first day of the fourth lunar month, with the sound of drums, the gate on the wall of the ward was opened with a bang, and the merchants who had been waiting impatiently were eager to enter.

The magistrate sat behind a desk on one side of the gate and inspected the records and banners of each merchant one by one. After the inspection, he nodded and said "Approved," and the guards of the Shaofu Garden Household Department standing at the gate loosened their crossed halberds and let people in.

Although they are called "people," they are often an entire team, with a large number of personnel and vehicles, and the carriages are sluggishly loaded with goods.

Shao Xun stood on a tall building in the market, sitting at the window and looking out.

There were several other people in the room, including Empress Yu Wenjun, Consort Pei, Lady Guanqiu, Crown Prince Shao Jin, Prince Zhao Shao Xu, Prince Yan Shao Yu, Prince Han Shao Wo, and Shao Cui (whose mother was Liu Yena), who had recently been enfeoffed as Duke of Cao—this was the first time he had come out to see the world with Shao Xun.

From a small compartment at the back of the house, there was a constant sizzling sound, as if someone was making something delicious.

The crowd remained unaffected and continued watching what was happening below.

The first to arrive carried a flag bearing the character "Zheng," likely belonging to the Zheng family of Xingyang. A corner of the tarpaulin covering the cart was lifted by the wind, revealing a dense array of jars underneath.

“They sell wine and vinegar.” Shao Yu sat down opposite Shao Xun and said, “Pan Siqian told me that his family used to do this too, but they couldn’t compete with the Zheng family, so they switched to making perilla oil and sesame oil.”

"Is it a big business?" Shao Xun asked.

“Although Xingyang doesn’t have much wasteland, there is still some,” Shao Yu said. “White and purple perilla can be used to feed livestock, and the seeds can be pressed for oil, so you can make money from both.”

As they were talking, the guards brought out some deep-fried thin ring-shaped cakes for everyone.

Shao Yu was taken aback and looked at his father.

"Do you remember that day eight years ago?" Shao Xun smiled slightly. "That day, your grandfather and you were sitting in the pavilion of the South Market in Luoyang, looking down. There was an oil seller named Zheng—"

“Zheng Qian, a native of Xuchang,” the Crown Prince said immediately, his memory excellent.

"This is the man. He started by selling perilla oil and now has more than ten oil mills spread across the four prefectures of Yingchuan, Xiangcheng, Runan, and Henan. His eldest son entered the Liang County Martial Arts School, his second and third sons manage the family business, and his youngest son continues to practice martial arts and manages a group of servants."

"This man was just a craftsman in the palace of the former Jin Dynasty many years ago, but now he is a wealthy merchant. It's really strange..." the Crown Prince sighed.

“Such opportunities only arise in times of chaos,” Shao Xun said calmly. “Now that the world is at peace, these kinds of opportunities are becoming increasingly rare. Zheng Qian was lucky. I gave him the opportunity, and he seized it.”

Shao Jin and Shao Yu exchanged a glance, knowing what their father was talking about.

"Eat a cake." Shao Xun picked up a thin ring-shaped cake and held it to Guanqiu's mouth.

Guanqiu also recalled the past, and with a flicker of emotion in her eyes, she accepted the food.

She was a concubine who came with the Empress's dowry. Although Yu Wenjun treated them well, they still lived in the Empress's shadow. But even ordinary people have their own loves and hates. Guanqiu didn't ask for much; she just wanted His Majesty to spare a little attention from his busy schedule.

Today, the emperor fed her a thin ring-shaped cake, clearly still remembering the events of eight years ago, and a feeling of being moved surged in her heart.

After serving Guanqiu, Shao Xun began feeding Yu Wenjun.

Yu Wenjun was a little embarrassed because the children were present, but Shao Xun insisted, and she eventually ate it, her eyes beaming with smiles.

Shao Jin and Shao Yu exchanged a helpless glance. They knew they couldn't do such a thing; it would be too shameful.

"Did you notice that the cakes are different today?" Shao Xun asked.

“It doesn’t seem green,” Yu Wenjun said.

"Guangchengze cultivated a type of bean from which oil can be extracted. Actually, this bean isn't very good at extracting oil..."

Shao Xun's voice rang out slowly, and a large number of merchants had already poured into the street below.

The soldiers cleared a space, brought in tables and chairs, and the merchants sat down and began to chat.

After a long while, the merchants moved forward and sat together.

The city magistrate also arrived at the scene. He subconsciously looked up at the tall building, then sat down in front of the crowd and said, "Settle the accounts."

"Last October, Zheng Yongkai of Xingyang issued a commercial note to Li Cen of Dunqiu, worth five dragon coins, with an agreement to return it today. Is there any error?" the city magistrate, a former martial arts student, asked loudly.

Everyone turned to look at the person sitting in the second row.

Zheng Yong, an elderly man of about fifty, immediately replied upon hearing this, "That's right."

After saying this, Zheng Yong stood up, looked at Li Cen, and said, "I will give you forty bolts of colored silk woven by the Zheng family, each bolt priced at 750 coins. I will also give you sixty bolts of miscellaneous silk from Chenliu, each bolt priced at 340 coins, for a total of 50,000 and 400 coins. You don't need to give me any change. Let's settle the matter here. How about it?"

Li Cen hesitated for a moment upon hearing this, then shook his head and said, "I don't want the Chenliu miscellaneous silk anymore, it's not worth that much. Just give me 20,000 coins."

Zheng Yong was somewhat dissatisfied: "Miscellaneous silk from Chenliu can sell for 350 or 360 in Guanzhong, so I'm already being generous with your 340."

“In Hebei, it’s worth at most 320. Sometimes, when there’s a surplus of silk from Qinghe, you can’t even sell it for 300.” Li Cen’s attitude was very firm.

"I'll give you ten more horses, is that alright?" Zheng Yong was a little unhappy.

After much deliberation, Li Cen finally agreed.

The transaction was completed on the spot, and the city magistrate took the commercial bills, thus settling the accounts.

"Jiyin Cai Ji issued a commercial note to Gaoping Lu He in October of last year, amounting to four dragon coins. Lu He then—" The magistrate carefully examined the endorsement and scolded, "Write it more clearly next time! Lu He then transferred it to Puyang Dong Yu on the 20th of January this year. Is there any error?"

The three of them stood up in unison and said, "No mistake." Cai Ji, who was issuing the ticket, didn't waste any words and directly had his servant bring thirty strings of copper coins and place them on the felt carpet in front of the city magistrate.

The mayor glanced at Dong Yu and asked, "Would you like to order something?"

"No need," Dong Yu said, shaking his head.

"No need to count them one by one, just weigh them," the mayor reminded him.

“I trust Lord Cai.” Dong Yu immediately ordered his attendants to take the copper coins away.

The city official then ignored it and shouted loudly again, "The Prince of Liang's temple..."

High up in the building, Shao Xun looked around and nodded with satisfaction.

“The procedures are already in place,” he said happily.

Anyone would feel genuinely pleased to see their carefully nurtured business market gradually develop into a standardized and well-defined system, and to see crucial trading habits formed.

“Eight years ago, the Luoyang South Market opened for fifteen days, with a tax rate of one-twentieth. In the first five days alone, it collected more than two hundred dragon coins in taxes,” Shao Xun said. “Last year, the spring and autumn seasons alone collected one thousand five hundred. The Bianliang market collected more than two thousand last year, showing rapid growth.”

Well, actually, compared to normal taxes, commercial taxes these days are nothing.

Taking Chenliu County, where Bianliang is located, as an example, the land rent collected last year was nearly 700,000 hu. At 15 qian per dou of rice in Bianliang, that's 100 million qian, worth 10,000 dragon coins.

The household tax also collected over 300,000 bolts of silk, which were worth over 100 million coins.

The combined commercial taxes of all the cities across the country that had established markets and wards were roughly equivalent to the taxes contributed by the nearly 500,000 people of the nine counties of Chenliu.

If commercial tax revenue were to experience explosive growth, Shao Xun actually had a solution: learn from the late Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties, and the Northern Song Dynasty, which levied additional monopoly taxes on various commodities on top of the original commercial taxes (residence tax, transit tax, and waiver of local taxes, which together did not exceed 10%). These taxes included monopolies on salt, tea, iron, horses, lacquer, and so on. Some of these monopoly taxes were as high as 30%, 50%, or even 70%. Whenever there was a financial difficulty, the monopoly tax rate would be increased, to the point that at its peak in the late Tang Dynasty, commercial tax revenue was close to half of the imperial court's fiscal revenue.

The Great Liang Dynasty did not yet have this condition.

Imposing heavy taxes now will set back the nascent business market by many years.

"Take it slow," Shao Xun thought to himself, "first, prepare the nest."

It's impossible for the air force to be air force. In fact, the Tang and Song dynasties collected commercial taxes very efficiently, and even the Mongol Yuan dynasty collected a lot of commercial taxes. It's just that the Ming dynasty had difficulty collecting this stuff, which is really strange.

After settling accounts, the merchants returned to their respective shops and began preparing their goods.

Not many remained in place, but one person stood out because of his blank, silly expression.

"Who is this?" Shao Xun asked, pointing.

“Father, this is a merchant from the Kingdom of Linyi,” said Crown Prince Shao Jin. “Last year, Fan Wen sent an envoy north, but his ship capsized and he died. This man was on another ship, which luckily survived. He landed in Jianye and arrived in Bianliang in February. When I heard about this, I summoned him to the Linzhi Palace for an audience and bestowed upon him some money and silk. I also asked the market to provide him with a merchant flag, as he carried a considerable amount of goods that needed to be sold.”

"I see." Shao Xun nodded.

It was common to do business with tribute envoys. This person was likely a wealthy citizen of Linyi Kingdom, with some indirect relationship to Fan Wen, and of considerable status.

"Ask him what he's selling?" Shao Xun instructed again.

That guy didn't have a fixed storefront; he just foolishly unloaded his goods and spread them out on a felt mat. People would occasionally go by to look, but they weren't sure what his goods were and didn't dare to make a move.

Shao Zhen went downstairs in person, asked some questions, and then came back with a package.

“Your Majesty, the Lin-yi merchants say that most of their goods have been damaged, and now only one type of product called ‘Udeni’ remains.” After saying this, Shao Zhen added, “According to knowledgeable merchants, this is ‘Sanskrit’ (actually Tamil), and it should not be a product of Lin-yi. They have probably changed hands.”

After saying that, he spread out the cloth bag and said, "It is said that the people of Linyi use this to brew tea, which has the effect of sobering up."

Shao Xun picked up a small piece, examined it carefully, but had no clue.

"Never mind, I couldn't tell," Shao Xun said with a smile.

This thing is mostly popular only in parts of Southeast Asia. Chinese people might be interested in it in later generations, but it probably won't sell well at this time. Anyway, Shao Xun had never heard of it—of course, there are many things he had never heard of.

"Guests from afar are always welcome," Shao Xun said. "His...whatever..."

“Udie Ni,” Shao Zhen said.

“Yes, Father Wuni, buy it. I will buy it,” Shao Xun said.

“Grandpa, it’s Wudie Ni,” said King Shaowo of Han.

Shao Xun glared at him, then addressed the crowd: "Today, the world is at peace, and there is an atmosphere of all nations coming to pay tribute. Merchants from Linyi have come to sell their goods. This is a good thing, a great thing. We are not afraid of people coming; we are afraid of people not coming. The more people come, the more prosperous the trade will be, and the more taxes the court will collect."

After saying that, he looked at Crown Prince Shao Jin and said, "Liang Nu, only a few Lin Yi merchants come to Bianliang. Most of them go to Guangzhou. Fan Wen followed his master back then and traveled to Guangzhou many times to trade, which broadened his horizons. Then he fled to Lin Yi, gained the trust of the King of Lin Yi, and rose to prominence. The trade routes in the Western Regions are of utmost importance, but Sima Jin is indifferent to the trade by sea in Guangzhou. You should pay more attention to this in the future."

"Yes," Shao Jin replied respectfully.

"Exemplary!" Shao Xun thought to himself. "He actually slept with a bunch of mistresses, what a talent!"

(End of this chapter)