I'm so hard

Chapter 16 The Way to Make Money
Kong Moshan, the envoy of the Third Division, looked at the two ministers and said, "Hu Bu, please speak first!"

Chu Baolai, Minister of the Household Department, let out a long sigh, smacked his left hand with his right hand, and said, "Your Majesty, it's not easy for me! Last year, there were major disasters in the eight prefectures of my Zhou Dynasty, which resulted in a large reduction in land taxes. This year, the northern Mongolian attack has cost a lot of money. , My household department doesn’t have much money anymore. And the Ministry of Industry strongly demands that the household department increase the supply cost, even if I kill me, I won’t be able to pay any more!”

At this time, Chen Siyu, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, said immediately: "Your Majesty, it's not that I forced the Ministry of Households, but that our Ministry of Industry will not be able to continue operating immediately. Even if the civil engineering of the city can be suspended, our military production must not stop. It is very likely that there will be another war at the beginning of next year. The commander-in-chief said that the progress was delayed and he wanted to take my head. What can I do? In addition, this month, the Ministry of Households has obviously collected some land taxes, and some taxes on salt, iron, tea and wine. Why can't I let the Ministry of Industry use it."

"Except for your Ministry of Industry, the other ministries don't cost money? Do you want to pay officials' salaries? Do you want to give rewards at the end of the year? Do you want to renovate Jixian Academy? How do you hold year-end celebrations? Which ones don't cost money? Your Ministry of Industry will take priority!"

……

Chu Baolai, Minister of the Household Department, looked aggrieved. If Zhao Yan hadn't been there, the two of them would have fought again.

Zhao Yan also understood the reason for the fight between the two, and it all boiled down to one point, that is, the court had no money.

He suddenly realized that the names of these two ministers were Baolai and Ciyu.He couldn't help but muttered in his heart: No wonder there is no money, the names given by the two ministers don't look like rich people.

Kong Moshan added: "Your Majesty, if there is a war early next year, our finances will be stretched!"

Zhao Yan thought for a while, and now there is less than a month before the Chinese New Year, and Northern Mongolia is located in a bitterly cold place. If you want to raise troops, it will take at least late March.

Da Zhou still has about three months to prepare military expenses.

As a master of economics who is familiar with the history of ancient financial development, and possesses the supreme power, Zhao Yan is still sure of using some means to quickly earn some wealth.

"Third Secretary, what are the main sources of our treasury's fiscal revenue?" Zhao Yan asked.

Kong Moshan said without hesitation: "According to the broad categories, it can be divided into three types, one is taxes and fees, that is, the land tax of the people and the business tax of merchants; the other is monopoly income, mainly from the official monopoly of salt, iron, wine and tea; , the price difference earned for coin issuance.”

Zhao Yan nodded, this was basically the same as what he knew.

"What measures have we taken in the past to increase the revenue of the national treasury?"

"If there is a war or famine, the land tax cannot be increased. It is basically solved by strengthening commercial taxation and minting coins. If the money is not enough, you can only sell some titles secretly, but these are all methods of killing chickens and eggs. Implement it for a long time!" Kong Moshan is very clear about the methods of accumulating money in the past dynasties.

Zhao Yan analyzed: "Okay, let's analyze one by one. Due to last year's disaster and this year's war, it is obviously impossible to increase taxes, and casting coins is far from quenching thirst, and it is easy to cause inflation. It is not appropriate, so Now, we can only make up our minds on monopoly industries like salt, iron, wine and tea!"

"Your Majesty, may I ask what inflation means?" Kong Moshan asked in confusion.

Zhao Yan smiled awkwardly, and said: "In the past, one penny could buy a steamed bun, but now two pennies can buy a steamed bun. Once this happens, the proportion of poor people will increase significantly, and the country will experience violent turmoil!"

Kong Moshan was suddenly stunned, and then asked: "Salt, iron, wine and tea monopoly is originally a monopoly industry of the imperial court. All profits belong to the imperial court. How else can we make money from it?"

"Third Secretary, the salt, iron, wine and tea are all under the supervision of your third division. You should know better than anyone else how much profit there is, how many people are filling their own pockets, and how much is left in the court!"

Hearing this, Kong Moshan broke out in cold sweat, and knelt down instantly.

"Your Majesty...Your Majesty, you...you don't want to investigate all the officials of the Third Division, and then come to raise military expenses, but this matter is very complicated, and it is definitely not my third division who is greedy!"

"Why are you nervous? I know that there are a lot of entanglements in the monopoly of salt, iron, wine and tea. There is a complicated network of relationships. The most profitable ones are the dukes and marquises who rule one side. The blood of the people!"

Kong Moshan was taken aback again, realizing that the emperor knew everything.

Except for him as the third envoy, few people know these secrets, and those dukes and marquises have never intervened in salt, iron, wine and tea on the surface.

"Then, what is Your Majesty going to do?" Kong Moshan stood up slowly, and asked curiously. The Minister of the Ministry of Household and the Minister of the Ministry of Industry also looked at Zhao Yan at the same time.

Zhao Yan smiled slightly: "I want them to earn more!"

When talking about the economy, it involves Zhao Yan's old business.

He stood up and continued: "I am going to implement a comprehensive reform of the salt, iron, wine and tea industry. From a government-run monopoly to a private bidding form."

The three of Kong Moshan were dumbfounded.

This is not right!

Salt, iron, wine and tea are the most profitable business in the world, and they dominate the development of the country's people's livelihood. If it is handed over to the people, it will be messed up.

In the past, these were allowed to be operated by the people, so many rich people were born, and most of the country's money was in the hands of these people. Now if the salt, iron, wine and tea industry is returned to the world, it will be difficult to sell private salt and fake goods. The wine is still dissatisfied with Tianfei!
Before Kong Moshan raised this question, Zhao Yan explained: "Don't worry, I'm not going to return the salt and iron wine and tea to the people, but to get more value from it. Now, the salt and iron wine and tea are all controlled by the state After layers of exploitation through channels, not much actually flows into the national treasury. My suggestion is to divide the salt, iron, wine and tea into different regions according to the region, and each region can be handed over to rich folks to operate , to innovate, but the whole still needs to be controlled by the third division.”

"Let me give you an example. Yangzhou is rich in salt mines. The household department can directly issue a notice. Anyone who has the ability to manage Yangzhou salt mines can apply for election for a period of one to three years. Whoever is stronger and more capable, we will Which one to choose. Then sign a contract with each other. The household department will only take the average price of the Yangzhou Salt Mine in the first three years, and the rest of the profits will belong to the operator. The operator must prepay the annual average price profit. In addition, in order to avoid raising the market price, the Ministry of Households can also add some regulations that are beneficial to people's livelihood..."

In other words, the method used by Zhao Yan is the current bidding, and the highest bidder wins.

The leading core of this method is to first transfer some money from the hands of the private tycoons to the hands of the state.

However, this is also a strong attraction to those super rich, because they are too aware of the profit value of Yantiejiu tea, and in order to make money, they will inevitably continue to increase productivity.

In this way, the production will become more dynamic without too many complicated links and the participation of officials in positions of vegetarian meals.For Dazhou, merchants and common people, it is a win-win situation for all three parties.

And the ones who suffer the most are those who deal with the cards.

As for the advance payment, it is to replenish the treasury faster and prepare for wartime needs.After seeing the benefits of this transaction, the wealthy folks will naturally not be reluctant to pay the advance payment.

After listening to it, Kong Moshan, Chu Baolai, and Chen Siyu reacted for a long time before they understood the benefits of this policy, and they couldn't help but get excited. They looked at Zhao Yan, as if saying: Our emperor of Great Zhou is really a genius what! "

(End of this chapter)