The law of opening up China is beneficial to the country and the people. It is a good law no matter how you look at it, so why do some people ignore it and want to abolish it? Zhang Ximeng’s question hits the nail on the head.
No matter how good the design of Kaizhong Law is, there is always a problem of distribution of financial power behind it.
The military commander opened a salt guide and sold it to a salt merchant. The salt merchant took the salt guide to the salt field to collect the salt. Doesn't this design mean that the military commander was given the power to print money?
The salt in their hands is money.
It is equivalent to saying that in addition to the household system, another system has been developed.
Even the emperor could not directly control this system.
After all, there is also the issue of hereditary military commanders behind this.
Since there was no way to control it, and the powerful generals could not affect the imperial power, it was not surprising that Xiaozong complied with the wishes of the officials and abolished the Kaizhong Law.
Zhu Biao thought carefully for a long time and said carefully: "Sir, I believe that in order to stabilize the Yanyun land, it is really necessary to open the Central Method!"
After Zhu Biao finished speaking, he said doubtfully: "It's just that the general has soldiers and salt tax and financial power. I'm afraid there will be trouble in the future!"
Zhang Ximeng said with a smile: "Indeed, although it may not become a vassal town in the late Tang Dynasty, there are still military commanders who segregate their regimes and disobey the court's orders."
"Isn't that just pressing down the gourd and making it float?" Zhu Biao said worriedly.
Zhang Ximeng smiled and said nothing, but Song Lian, who was half a teacher of Zhu Biao, thought about it for a while and said: "Your Highness, there are many pros and cons in everything, and it is difficult to explain clearly at once. As the person in charge, you have to weigh the pros and cons.
This is where the difficulty lies in deciding the country’s major policies.”
Zhu Biao lowered his head, thought again and again, but still shook his head helplessly, "Sir, I really don't know how to choose, sir, please give me some advice!"
Zhang Ximeng smiled and said: "Your Highness, this matter is really not something I can teach you. Scholar Song said it well, this is indeed something that the person in charge should be responsible for. If you have to let me say it, Your Highness must do something before deciding on something.
Know the pros and cons, and know the complete picture of the opening method. Once you decide to implement it, your highness must be prepared to stop the opening method. Being able to move forward and retreat freely, this is what your highness needs to learn."
"It is not a good thing to be undecided when faced with problems, and to make plans without making decisions. But it is not good to just make decisions and grant authority, but cannot take it back."
Zhang Ximeng smiled and said: "Your Highness, speaking of it, you still have a lot to learn about the things in this!"
Zhu Biao nodded quickly and said humbly: "Disciple doesn't understand it very well. From now on, you must pay more attention to it."
At this time, Gao Qi stood up and bowed: "Prime Minister Zhang, I am a bit confused about this humble position. How can I be able to control things freely? Now that Prime Minister Zhang makes the decision in Peiping, how should Prime Minister make a decision?"
When the matter came to Zhang Ximeng's head, Song Lian, Zhu Biao, and everyone else all looked at Zhang Ximeng.
I thought in my heart that what Zhang Xiang said was clear and logical, and if it came to my own head, I would lose my mind, right?
Zhang Ximeng smiled slightly, "Indeed, this matter is not that convenient. I plan to set up a salt trading company in Changlu to be responsible for drying and selling salt! Instead of abandoning the method of salt transportation and making the yamen responsible for salt."
Song Lian frowned and said thoughtfully: "Prime Minister Zhang plans to reorganize the system? What's the benefit of this arrangement?"
Zhang Ximeng said with a smile: "If there are just military generals to sign the salt quota, and then the merchants go to the salt transportation envoy's office to collect the salt... there are too many possible disadvantages. Even if the father-in-law of Yue is loyal to the country, other officials
It can be considered clean and does not cause too many problems, but after a few years, things will become difficult to talk about."
"So what I think is that this salt guide cannot be directly controlled by military commanders, otherwise there will be endless troubles, and sooner or later the Kaizhong method will be destroyed... What I mean is to set up a salt trading company to be responsible for the sales and production of salt. They will make one every year first
According to the estimate, a corresponding amount of salt is taken out and sold to the merchants. According to the sales situation, salt production is arranged and delivered in batches. How much salt is produced, how much sea salt is produced, and how much it is sold for are all made public, and everyone can clearly see them.
In vain, clearly."
After Zhang Ximeng finished speaking, many people were silent. It was not that this method was so brilliant, but that everyone frowned obviously.
Something is wrong!
Why is there something missing?
After a while, Song Lian pondered and said: "Xiang Zhang, if you arrange it like this, where will the money for building the beacon tower and the expenses for establishing the military camp come from?"
yes!
Zhang Ximeng's doing this is tantamount to taking out the most critical thing.
Everyone talks about how to defend the border, but they don’t talk about how to sell salt?
Did even Prime Minister Zhang miss the point?
Zhang Ximeng smiled faintly, "Everyone, what would happen if the Peking Dusi and the internal fund each owned half of the salt bank's shares?"
As soon as he said this, Zhu Biao still couldn't turn a corner, but Sun Yan and others had already understood something, and they couldn't help but widen their eyes with a horrified expression. Is this possible?
Things like dry stocks are not unfamiliar.
Zhang Ximeng had already considered this when he first set up the food bank.
After coming to Jinling, Ma invested a lot of money and took a lot of shares in many workshops...such as textile workshops, silk workshops, printing and dyeing factories, quilt factories, etc.
If we only consider his wealth, Ma is almost the largest wealthy businessman in the Ming Dynasty.
Regardless of the number of craftsmen he controls, the scale of the industry, or even the profits, he is well-deserved to be number one. It's just that the Ma family doesn't care much about it, and outsiders don't dare to settle accounts with the Queen.
Now that Zhang Ximeng came up with the idea of setting up a salt trading company, Sun Yan easily understood the power of it and even wanted to film it and marvel at it.
Seeing him eager to give it a try, Song Lian smiled and said: "Sun Yan, please help everyone clear up their doubts! Look at Prime Minister Zhang's good intentions!"
Sun Yan smiled and said: "Scholar Song, in fact, this matter is not difficult to guess, but most people can't think of it! Tell me about the empress's quilt factory, which produces so many military uniforms. What's so good about it?"
Song Lian frowned slightly, and after thinking for a while, he understood, "The queen's quilt factory naturally has to calculate its income and expenditure. It is not easy to purchase cloth and cotton, pay the workers, and maintain operations.
, which can be said to benefit the country and the people.”
Sun Yan smiled and said: "Then what would happen if it were run by government-run workshops like in the past, or if it was simply run by the Ministry of War's Yamen?"
Song Lian said solemnly: "If the yamen is responsible, the workers will have to do corvee work, and the wages may not be much. The needed cloth and cotton will be directly requisitioned, and the people will suffer. They do not pay attention to details, are greedy and wasteful, and it is inevitable that the war coats produced will be
Military uniforms may not be appropriate either..."
Sun Yan laughed and said: "Yes, isn't this the purpose of setting up a salt trading company?"
Song Lian pondered for a moment, then suddenly touched his palms and couldn't help but laugh: "Yes! That's right! Commercial firms have to hire workers and pay the people for working. All along, the kitchen households who specialize in salt production do not have to continue to produce salt for generations.
Their lives can be better. Zhang Shicheng is a salt worker. If Zhang Shicheng had used this method, I am afraid Zhang Shicheng would not have rebelled!"
Zaohu is a salt household that boils salt. It can be traced back to the Five Dynasties. For generations, they have made a living by boiling seafood and salt.
In the Yuan Dynasty, the salt transport yamen were responsible for managing the production of salt. Yuan court officials collected salt from kitchen households at low prices and resold them at high prices.
Zao households had very little income and had to make ends meet.
Later, the Yuan Dynasty opened a river to convert banknotes, causing the price of banknotes to plummet. They worked hard to cook seafood salt, but a pot of salt could not be exchanged for two steamed buns. Kitchen households fled one after another, and many kitchen households joined the Red Scarf Army.
They are also the salt men under Zhang Shicheng.
If the Ming Dynasty continued to adhere to the yamen management model of salt transportation and continued to let kitchen households cook salt for generations, it would not be impossible that one day the salt workers would flee and gather in the mountains and forests.
But when it is changed to a commercial bank, the commercial bank must pay enough wages to recruit workers... And in order to reduce costs and improve efficiency, the commercial bank is more willing to use the method of drying salt, and by the way, it can also promote the use of new technologies.
As for using the sun-dried salt method and using less salt workers, that is not a problem. In the Ming Dynasty, there are many places that are short of people. If you go to the Central Plains, Peking, or even Lingnan, you can be a hundred times better than being a kitchen household!
In this way, the disadvantages of hereditary kitchen households can be easily resolved.
"The Salt Trading Company follows the rules and pays taxes to the Department of Taxation, and all taxes are returned to the national treasury. This problem has been solved." Sun Yan added: "The Salt Trading Company gave half of the shares to Dusi, and the dividends can naturally be used to build beacon towers and strengthen border defense.
As for the remaining half, dedicating it to the Emperor is equivalent to keeping the border troops in your Majesty's hands, so that vassal towns will not appear, and they will not disobey orders. Of course, if Your Majesty is kind, you can also allocate some money from your internal funds to help
Build a beacon tower. I don’t think Prime Minister Zhang will object to it.”
Zhang Ximeng smiled implicitly, "There are actually some problems with my approach. After all, the interests of the commercial bank and Dusi are still different. It is hard to say how much dividends they can give to help repair the beacon tower. My idea is that His Majesty and Dusi will jointly come up with it
These dry shares are sold to businessmen and a sum of money is raised from the businessmen to strengthen border defense. Those who actively purchase shares will also be given priority in purchasing salt."
Zhang Ximeng took his time, avoided a lot of the shortcomings of the original Chinese method, and also carried forward the advantages.
In particular, the problem of financial and tax confusion has been avoided, and the tax department has not lost any of its share.
If there is still a question, it is the distribution of shares. Can Dusi take half of it? Should the remaining half be given to internal funds or given to the treasury?
There is definitely still debate over these things.
But no matter how much they fight, this salt trading company is operating and generating a steady stream of dividends... It seems that all parties will not just abandon it like they did with the Kaizhong method.
Zhang Ximeng spent several days discussing this upgraded version of the opening method. Prince Zhu Biao participated in the whole process. Gradually, he also understood Zhang Ximeng's idea.
Zhu Biao was delighted and wrote a letter to his father, the emperor and his mother... In the letter, Zhu Biao spared no effort to praise his master, praising Zhang Ximeng as much as a flower. His master was so brilliant that no wise minister in ancient times could compare with him.
Zhu Biao also said that he wanted to learn business management from Zhang Ximeng and how to get the best of both worlds... This letter was sent to Yingtian. After Zhu Yuanzhang read it through, he only had one thought left: our good children must learn how to do business as soon as they arrive in Peking.