Few rulers are willing to see their territory in a state of depression. Therefore, no matter whether the rulers are willing or not, they will not overly suppress the development of the commodity economy. Similarly, what the rulers are not willing to do is to indulge businessmen and allow them to develop, and even more so. Needless to say, they have formulated policies to encourage them. They have a natural arrogance against businessmen and a strange dislike for business. However, truly capable officials attach great importance to the value of business. They will formulate fiscal policies to encourage business development. Han Sang Hongyang of the dynasty and Wang Anshi of the same dynasty both tried, but Zhu Wu and Wu Yong were the only ones in the Song Dynasty who truly understood the market and used market laws to promote commercial development and increase government revenue.
While the generals of the Green Forest Army were attacking the city and plundering territory from the front, the two military advisors, in addition to making suggestions, were also spending their time studying economic reforms.
One of the reforms is currency, the blood of the economy. Since ancient times, merchants have been buying from the east and selling to the west, exchanging what they have. However, there must be a problem of long-distance transactions. In the Northern Song Dynasty, the exchange ratio of copper and iron coins was one to one. 10. Buying a small item requires a large amount of iron money, which is too heavy to bear. However, the large amount of currency flow formed with the transaction will inevitably bring inconvenience to the merchants. Coupled with the corrupt officials and bandits everywhere, the merchants are more worried about the large amount of money. During this period, although the escort agency naturally played the role of escorting currency, it eventually became the primary culprit restricting economic development. For this reason, some thoughtful private traders in the Northern Song Dynasty freely issued a currency. Set of banknotes called "Jiaozi".
Initially, some shops accepted money deposited by foreign merchants and issued coupons in the form of "receipts" with vermilion seals and cipher seals on both sides as proof of money withdrawal. As the number of such coupons increased, they were followed by local Due to the pronunciation characteristics of the dialect, they are collectively called "Jiaozi", but there is no word "Jiaozi" on the coupons, and the face value is temporarily filled in as needed. In fact, there is no unified standard for the coupons issued by each shop. The face of the coupon was not printed, so it was very arbitrary and easy to fake. However, at this time, Jiaozi had begun to have monetary functions.
The currency reform proposed by Zhu Wu and Wu Yong was basically based on the one formulated during the Qingli period of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty. They issued "bank notes" with similar functions to the "Jiaozi" of the Song Dynasty, but their issuance and circulation management formed A complete set of methods and systems. First, it stipulates the levels of denominations of banknotes, which are divided into dozens of categories such as five hundred coins, one to ten coins, one to one hundred taels, etc. Later, with the rapid development of the economy, the Green Forest regime also Bank notes in units of ten thousand taels were successively issued. Secondly, Kowloon banknotes were officially opened in various places. Government supervision and private operation allowed merchants to conduct mortgage loan business and collect interest of twenty thousand taels per month. At the same time, Taking the common people as customers, retail investors are allowed to open accounts and earn interest on savings. Thirdly, the bank notes issued are divided into two years. When cashed out or exchanged for new ones after expiration, twenty coins will still be deducted. Thirdly, the bank notes There is no limit on issuance, and the exchange of banknotes and currency is implemented. The banknote number holds as much cash as possible, no matter how many banknotes are issued, to ensure the circulation and stability of currency in the market. Fourthly, at that time, banknotes were printed with copper plates, using red and blue ink. Overprinted, the pattern is exquisite, and the state seal of Honshu is stamped on the face of the ticket.
The second step is to establish new "futures exchanges" in various places and have the official "Futures Department" set up to manage them full-time.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, transportation was inconvenient and communication was poor. It was not easy to grasp the market conditions in various places. One of the important responsibilities of the "Futures Department" was to collect market information and understand the price information of various places through the "futures exchanges" in various places ( Note: This approach seems to be a full use of the law of value of the commodity economy today. One of the laws of value is that the price of a commodity is determined by value and fluctuates around the relationship between supply and demand.) The so-called "Luoyang paper is expensive". It is the result of merchants hoarding exotic goods and driving up prices, etc., which are the result of the invisible use of the law of value. With the "futures department", the government can use the information they have to purchase goods from areas with abundant materials and low prices, and transport them to areas where materials are scarce. , sales in areas with high prices have stabilized prices and increased government revenue. At the same time, they can know the disaster situation in various places. If a disaster occurs in a place, they can immediately respond to the urgent needs of the people and implement dispatch relief.
In addition, the Futures Department is also responsible for purchasing goods that are difficult for traders to sell at a low price and reselling them to places where the market is short of goods. By paying collateral to the futures exchange, traders can purchase goods in government warehouses on credit in batches and sell them everywhere, earning an interest of one half a year. The market exchange law uses state power to limit the control and manipulation of big businessmen in the market, stabilize prices and adjust market demand. The government can also share part of the profits of businessmen, increasing the country's income.
A third economic reform that used market forces to increase income was to hand over the operation of salt to merchants.
"Half of the wealth of the world is salt profit. The palace guards serve the emperor, the military pay, and the salaries of all officials are all given to him." ("New Book of Tang·Shi Huo Zhi") It can be seen that salt profit plays a great role in revitalizing the national finance. As early as In the early Tang Dynasty, the old system of the Sui Dynasty was inherited and the salt ban was lifted. There was no monopoly on salt and no special tax. Businessmen made a fortune from it. This situation lasted for almost more than a century. In the later period of the Anshi Rebellion, Wu Qi was in charge of financial work. , implemented a price-increasing monopoly policy in which salt is directly sold by government officials.
This is exactly the same as, or even worse than, the monopoly policy implemented by Guan Zhong, Shang Yang, Sang Hongyang, etc. In this salt monopoly, it was directly changed from a civilian system for private sales to a civilian system for official collection, official transportation, and official sales. , completely excluding small businessmen who sell small amounts of salt. Although this increases fiscal revenue, it also brings many disadvantages, such as an extensive increase in salt officials, which greatly increases personnel expenses, coupled with corruption and poor management, which affects Poor supply in rural areas has, to a large extent, affected the growth of national fiscal revenue.
Wu Yong and Zhu Wu reformed this approach. Zhu Wu believed that "too many officials would disturb the people," so they implemented the salt management method and handed over the operation of salt to merchants. The new tax law created a "taxation on the spot, regardless of taxation" on salt, which fully mobilized the power of the market and mobilized the enthusiasm of businessmen to pursue profits. To a certain extent, it overcame the shortcomings of overstaffing and corruption in the government. But at the same time, in order to prevent some salt merchants from speculating, Zhu Wu arranged for the futures department to stock up a fixed amount of salt at futures exchanges in various places. When the people were short of salt and sold it directly to remote areas, the government directly sold it. This not only increased the government's income, but also It also stabilized the market, preventing salt merchants from hoarding goods and selling them for free, and the people had an endless supply of salt.
When Shi Jin saw this, he couldn't help but clapped his hands and praised the two military advisors for their grasp of the market. It was really amazing. The opening of the salt ban gave full play to the basic role of the market in allocating resources, allowing this invisible hand to guide people. Actions have demonstrated the advantages of the market; but they also know the shortcomings of the market. The market cannot fully allocate resources. In remote areas, market power cannot reach places. Therefore, administrative means can only be used to make up for the shortcomings of market means. In these The local salt official was set up to conduct government transactions, and at the same time, the price was kept as low as possible so that local residents could afford it. From this point of view, Zhu Wu and Wu Yong not only had the ability to "be worth less than a thousand miles", but they were also marketers. An expert in this field.
Shi Jin read this section, turned over the document and read on.
This fourth reform is to use incentives to promote industry development. For industries that are encouraged to develop, various measures such as tax exemptions, subsidies, export tax rebates, and incentives will be implemented.
There are dozens of incentive measures, but Shi Jin's eyes fell on one such one, "Anyone who builds a three-foot-long ship will be given thirty taels of silver for each ship."
Although the land in Shaanxi is fertile, due to the war, the food produced is naturally not enough for food, so it has to rely on food from the south. However, the main way to transport food is water transportation, which requires a large number of ships. In order to encourage shipbuilding, this new policy was introduced.
Shi Jindun asked here: "Isn't it 30 taels for each of the three-foot-long ships? It's a bit too much. I think 20 taels is already a lot."
Zhu Wu looked at Wu Yong, hesitated for a moment and then spoke to persuade: "Commander, you should consider the long term when doing things and not care about the small profits in front of you. For industries that want to develop, you can only give larger benefits to the deacons at the beginning. Only when they have no worries can they mobilize their enthusiasm and produce qualified products without cutting corners. At the same time, they can encourage more people to enter this industry. If you argue with them, it will be detrimental to the development of this industry and it will not last long. So it’s worth it to start spending a little more,”
Shi Jin pursed his lips after hearing this. Although Zhu Wu's words made sense, he still had some concerns in his heart. After all, the current finances could not afford it for long.
Wu Yong looked at Shi Jin's troubled face and said: "Commander, if we capture the remaining states, the Yongxing military road will be in our hands. At that time, we will definitely march eastward and march south." , and at that time, millions of our troops will need boats to transport them, and there will also be a shortage of waterway warships. If the stimulus policy can be implemented earlier at this time, we will not be stretched due to the shortage of warships, which restricts our ability to conquer the world. Ambition, so in the long run, the benefits to me, Green Forest, outweigh the disadvantages,"
After Wu Yong said this, Shi Jin suddenly understood, nodded, and said readily: "Since it says it this way, then let's do it this way." After Shi Jin said this, he stopped worrying about it and continued to read.
The above four reforms alone are not enough. After all, policies still need people to implement them. Many regulations of Wang Anshi's reform before the Song Dynasty had good intentions. However, due to improper employment, they were distorted during the implementation process. Not only did they not achieve much, Instead, the "new law" became a means for corrupt officials to exploit, and it also harmed the interests of the people in many aspects. In order to implement various reform measures smoothly and get good things done, Zhu Wu and Wu Yong made an agreement We have formulated a set of strict employment standards, namely, being talented and virtuous, being smart and capable, and being diligent and honest. These three standards are the official assessment and appointment standards, but they are not the final assessment standards. Here, Wu Yong, who is the master of calculation, has two other criteria. A system of monthly and annual inspections of various accounts has been formulated. Accountants who provide money and collect grain must be appointed scholars. Zhu Wu believed that "when a scholar is involved in dirty bribes, he will be abandoned in the world. Fame is more important than profit, so there are many scholars." "Xiu; although officials are clean and honest, they will never show honor, and profit is more important than fame, so officials are often corrupt." Obviously, scholars are appointed because they are more honest. For those who are in charge of property, integrity is a more important character than talent. Therefore, , putting morality first in official appointments also became a major feature of the later Green Forest regime.