No war in the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 60 Monopoly
Su Ze opened the drawings, and it turned out to be a series of drawings related to [Blacksmith].

This completes the task of increasing Azhi's favorability and completing Azhi's mission?
Su Ze unfolded the scroll. After the upgrade, no buildings related to iron appeared in Taohuayuan. Su Ze originally thought that his Taohuayuan level was not high enough. It turned out that he needed to refresh the blueprints.

【Rural Iron Shop】(Blue)

"The blacksmith shops in the countryside have simple conditions and can only produce low-grade iron tools."

Price: 15 points of cultural energy.

Function: The shop is simple and cannot forge medium to high-end ironware.

[Durability]: Hire a craftsman to forge ironware. The higher the level of the hired craftsman, the more durable the forged ironware will be.

This [Countryside Iron Shop] is different from the [Neighborhood Shop] of the God of Cooking. The blacksmith shop is limited to producing low-level ironware. Even if the hired craftsman is of a higher level, it will only make the ironware more durable.

But this makes sense. After all, a good chef can turn simple ingredients into something magical and create great dishes.

But the same cannot be said for blacksmiths. Even the most skilled blacksmiths need good equipment to make high-quality ironware.

Su Ze said to Azhi:

"I'll build the blacksmith shop right now. If you need anything else, tell me."

Azhi nodded and said:
"If the iron really worked, the collected works of the Master of Taoyuan would be ready for printing in no time."

Su Ze left Azhi's printing workshop and chose to build the [Rural Iron Shop] next to the printing workshop.

Su Ze spent 45 points of cultural energy to build a [neighborhood store] and a [countryside iron shop], recruit an official and a chef, and was about to recruit a craftsman.

Looking at the remaining 50 points of cultural energy, which could only barely pay next month's salary, Su Ze felt the pain again.

When he arrived at Taohuawu, Su Ze hung up the wooden recruitment sign again, but unfortunately no strange phenomenon happened this time.

[Simple Craftsmanship Boy] (Blue)

【Simple】, the ironware made is simple and durable.

Su Ze was a little disappointed, but being able to recruit blue quality was considered normal. After all, it was impossible to get orange and purple quality every time.

Su Ze casually named him A Tie and started thinking again.

It seems that Lingyun Tongzi's needs can be met proactively.

So Su Ze took another tour around Peach Blossom Spring to see if other spiritual boys had any needs.

As expected, Anong said he needed a durable hoe, Nong Yun, the boy in charge of the [open-air flower field], said he needed a pair of gardening shears, and Qiao Yun, the boy in charge of chopping firewood in the mountains, also needed a sharp axe.

Su Ze recorded their needs one by one, and he should be able to manufacture them after the [Rural Iron Shop] is completed.

Su Ze looked at the vibrant Peach Blossom Spring and left this world with satisfaction.

The next day, Su Ze still followed Feng Shiyuan to inspect the properties of the store and house business. Walking through the streets and alleys, he gained a better understanding of the urban life in Bianjing City.

The city of Bianjing was indeed worthy of being the most prosperous city of the time. Due to the relaxation of restrictions on commerce in the middle and early Northern Song Dynasty, the entire city could be said to be thriving.

Such a large population has given rise to more demands, and handicrafts and service industries have become more specialized.

For example, a workshop making oil-paper umbrellas assembles the umbrellas from paper, tung oil, and bamboo strips, all delivered by peddlers. These workshops often involve the entire family, young and old, with even teenagers helping out in the workshops.

But Su Ze also saw that their lives were very difficult.

Su Ze asked Feng Shiyuan:

"I see these people working hard all day, but why are they still so poor?"

Feng Shiyuan also sighed. As a man from the market, he naturally understood the lives of the people in Bianjing. He said:

"These people toil all day, yet in the end they can only earn a meager income. In fact, in terms of living standards, these people crowded in the city are worse than the fourth-class households in the capital. The fourth-class households at least have land, and as long as the years are slightly better, they can always leave some surplus food."

"Who made all this money?"

Feng Shiyuan said:
"Of course it's the big merchants in Bianjing City. Of course, in the end, it's still the powerful people behind those big merchants."

Feng Shiyuan was indeed the head of the shop and house guild. He counted on his fingers and said:

"Take the craftsman who made the oil-paper umbrellas, for example. He had to buy the bamboo for his umbrella poles and the oil-paper for his umbrella covers from merchants in the corresponding guild, and then sell the oil-paper umbrellas to the big merchants in the guild. With all this going on, the profit he made was naturally very meager."

Su Ze understood that this was the so-called guild handicraft monopoly.

Big merchants monopolized the supply of raw materials and the purchase of goods, and artisans were essentially slave laborers bound to workshops.

They have to buy raw materials at high prices and then sell them to the big merchants in these guilds at low prices.

Su Ze asked again:
"Why can't we buy these ingredients ourselves?"

Feng Shiyuan said:
"Of course, some can be purchased by themselves, but for example, the bamboo poles used to make oil-paper umbrellas, peddlers outside the city cannot come into the city to sell them themselves. They can only sell them to peddlers of large merchants outside the city."

"Why don't the peddlers outside the city bring their goods into the city to sell?"

Feng Shiyuan said:
"To sell things in the city, you have to pay taxes. There are customs duties and gate taxes. Let alone entering the city, even if you walk to the edge of Bianjing, the peddlers have been exploited to the point of being left with only a layer of skin. If you go into the city once, I'm afraid it won't even be enough to pay the taxes."

Su Ze now understood that the customs tax was the commercial tax for passing through customs, which was a tax specifically levied on traveling merchants.

The Northern Song Dynasty established commercial taxation under the Sansi Yamen, with the theoretical tax rate being five percent of the total price of goods.

However, each state and county has tax stations and there is no tax deduction system, which often leads to duplicate tax collection.

Moreover, collecting taxes is a traditional skill used by officials to exploit the people. For thousands of years, they have been able to create many tricks by collecting in-kind taxes such as grain taxes, and commercial taxes are even more tricky.

Tax collectors can easily collect more taxes by overestimating the value of goods.

Only big businessmen with strong connections could enter the city smoothly and avoid being exploited by tax collectors.

Feng Shiyuan added:

"Plus, the thing workers fear most is instability. What if one day they have work but no raw materials? That would be the most fatal thing. Although the materials of the guild merchants are expensive, their value lies in the stable supply."

"That's about purchasing, and the same goes for sales. How can ordinary people negotiate for deals? They don't have much bargaining power, so it's better to sell to the big merchants in the guild."

Su Ze now understood that what he thought was unreasonable using the logic of modern capitalist society was actually still in the stage of feudal handicraft guilds, and free trade seemed a bit too advanced.

(End of this chapter)