Tuyuhun was destroyed, the Western Turks surrendered to Luo, and the western exit route of the Sui Dynasty was completely opened. Trade with countries in the Western Regions became more frequent, including Persia and Tianzhu, which were further away.
Five of the goods: seeds, medicinal materials, minerals, spices, and horses were not allowed to be smuggled, and only the imperial court could purchase and sell them.
The department responsible for trade with the Western Regions is currently Sinong Temple. After Sinong Temple bought it back, part of it was put into the inner treasury for royal use and emperor rewards, and the rest was handed over to the Ministry of Civil Affairs for private sale.
In fact, it is quite chaotic. After all, the trade out to the west has just got on the right track, and the supervision of the entire foreign trade is not perfect enough.
Yang Ming was in the East Palace today, discussing with his subordinate officials how to smoothen the trade in the Western Regions.
"Last year's tariff in Yiwu City was 2.2 million yuan. It was 4.1 million yuan the year before last. It was 5 million yuan the year before that. It's getting less and less every year," Li Gang said with a smile:
"But everyone has seen with their own eyes that there are actually more and more barbarian caravans traveling between the capital and the east capital. The trade volume is expanding, but the tariffs are decreasing. I don't know what Wang Wei does."
Wang Wei is currently the governor of Yiwu and has been in this position for four years. He is responsible for collecting the customs duties of Yiwu County.
It is inherently unreasonable for local officials to collect tariffs. Although Sinong Temple has sent commissioners to supervise, they mainly supervise trade and do not collect taxes.
Feng Deyi said: "In fact, it is not difficult to guess that driven by profit, there must be someone who enriches his own pockets. Now everyone knows that the trade in the Western Regions is a piece of fat meat, and smuggling is unavoidable. Not only Yu Wenji, but also many families have intervened.
"
This is why Yang Ming only mentioned the matter of chemical smuggling and smuggling in front of Yu Wenshu, but did not mention it at the court meeting, because some of the people in the court meeting were also smuggling.
The law does not punish the public, so there is no way to mention this matter publicly.
Then we can only find ways to eliminate their smuggling channels.
Yuan Wendu said: "When you enter the customs from the Western Regions, there are only three places to collect taxes. Yiwu is full tax, Zhangye is half tax. When you arrive in the capital, it is commercial tax. For a good horse, Yiwu collects 1,800 yuan.
Zhangye has 900 yuan, while the capital only needs 100 yuan. As long as the customs in Yiwu are avoided, one horse can evade taxes for 1,800 yuan, 10 horses for 18,000 yuan, and 100 horses for 108,000 yuan. Who wouldn't want to do such a big temptation?"
Nowadays, the cheapest price for horses coming from the Western Regions in the capital is ten thousand to fifteen thousand, and a better price is twenty or thirty thousand. If they are sold to the south, the price can be even higher.
The standard for a good horse is a horse worth 10,000 to 15,000 yuan. How much you can sell after entering the Central Plains is up to you. My tariff will remain unchanged.
Horses are very valuable because in the Sui Dynasty, they were equal to luxury cars.
Li Mi smiled and said: "When the tariff was first set, Yiwu County's tariff on the fine horses from the Western Regions was originally planned to be set at 3,000, but later it was reduced by nearly half. In order to facilitate trade and introduce a large number of fine horses from the Western Regions, the tariff was set.
The price is so low and smuggling is still rampant, so we need to think of ways."
"I think the fault does not lie with Wang Wei," Prince Xian Ma Liu Xuan said: "Yiwu established a county, because it is a border pass, so it was specially established as Zhongzhong County. The county governor is only from the fifth rank. Wang Wei is a fifth-rank prefect. Whose
He doesn't dare not give it face, so smuggling is almost impossible to avoid unless important officials are sent to guard it."
Fang Xuanling smiled and said: "Since you are an important minister, how can you go to Yiwu?"
Yang Ming nodded and smiled: "Wang Wei is not to blame for this kind of thing. The same goes for asking everyone here to go to Yiwu. The Duke of Manchu Dynasty is not someone who can be offended by a prefect. Who in the third rank would be willing to go to that kind of place?
? Even if you let him go, he won't be able to work for a year and will find excuses to come back. It's not a long-term solution. It's right to send important ministers to take charge, but you have to make people willing to go and stay for a long time. You should think of a way."
"This is actually very simple," Li Xuandao said: "Give us the right to enclose borders."
Yang Ming was stunned, and after pondering for a moment, he said: "Elaborate."
Li Xuandao said: "For ministers of the third rank and above, let alone Yiwu, Zhangye County and Wuwei County may not be willing to go, so can these counties be combined into Longxi Road and set up a general manager or Xingtai Province?
?”
"You gave too much," Li Mi disapproved, saying, "Now in our Sui Dynasty, we no longer have a regional director, and only have one province, Southwest Xingtai. This is still the crown prince who is also the minister. You set up Longxi Xingtai.
Who does the minister order to do it?"
Li Xuandao said: "Of course, the crown prince should also hold the post."
Du Ruhui shook his head and said: "This is not appropriate. Our original intention is to give power. If the Shangshu Order is gone, then we will be left and right. This is still decentralization. Decentralization will create opposition. For the Zhenfu area,
There is no benefit.”
"Keming is right. If you want to set up a road, you need to centralize power. Only one person can have the final say and help the court keep a close eye on the trade in the Western Regions," Yang Ming nodded:
"But the military and political powers still need to be separated. Those in charge of military power do not care about trade, and those in charge of trade do not have military power. This is the most appropriate."
Liu Xuan said: "If we arrange it this way, we have to send two trustworthy people. There are only more than 20,000 troops stationed in Longxi, so we can still give them military power."
The main force of the Sui Dynasty was in Guanzhong, and the number of frontier troops was actually small. Unlike during the Tang Xuanzong period, the external emphasis was heavy on the outside and the internal was light on the inside. The frontier troops accounted for 85%, and the central army only accounted for 15%.
During the Sui Dynasty, the opposite was true, with the central army accounting for 80%.
If a road is set up in Longxi and given military power, how can you bring 20,000 people into Guanzhong? There are 150,000 garrison troops around the capital alone. How can you attack them with mortars?
The Donggong side has roughly calculated that the country's annual customs loss due to smuggling at Yiwu Pass should be between four million and five million. It doesn't sound like much, but what if it takes ten years? That's tens of millions.
Therefore, it is imperative to put an end to smuggling.
Everyone discussed for a long time, and Yang Ming finally said:
"The matter still needs to be decided by Your Majesty. Let's come up with a detailed plan. I will ask Your Majesty to do it if it passes. If it doesn't pass, we will find another way."
Liu Xuan and Li Gang are in charge of the program, and they are the two most experienced people.
.......
In Xu Guogong's mansion, Yu Wenshu has been training his son for a whole day.
"Are you so short of money? What's the matter? My food is not enough for you? Or is my Yuwenshu family's fortune too small for your liking?"
Yu Wenshu was completely unaware of the matter of Hua and smuggling. He thought that his son would change his name after having trouble with smuggling before. Well, he did change his name, from East Turkic to West Turkic.
Why is Huaji so courageous? His own father has the power to destroy the country, how can he not be courageous?
"It's not like my son is smuggling alone," Yu Wenhua said: "There are many people in Yiwu who are evading customs duties. Compared with others, what my son earns is only a small amount of money."
Yu Wenshu sneered and said: "Do you know that when the prince said this to me today, I felt as if the prince had put a knife on my neck. When I left the hall, I
Only then did I realize that the one holding the sword was not the prince, but you."
Yu Wenhuaji was stunned and hurriedly knelt down in front of his father: "My father's words are serious. Isn't it okay for my son not to get involved in this from now on?"
"Wolves eat meat, dogs eat shit," Yu Wenshu said solemnly:
"When will you be able to clearly distinguish what is meat and what is shit? You are also a county official now, but look at your actual duties. Without me, General Youyiwei, would it be your turn? I don't think about how to move up.
, all you want to do is make money, do you think you are Yang Jun’s son? He is a prince, but he is also a general in the army without doing anything, who do you think you are? "
"What I taught you is that my son will never behave randomly again," Yu Wenhuaji said with his head lowered.
Yu Wenshu shook his head and sighed: "How much money have you made from smuggling over the years? Give me the real number."
"Um..." Yu Wenhuaji hesitated: "Whatever, there are probably two to three million."
Yu Wenshu nodded: "Take out two million, divide it into one year, and send it to Shuyi one after another."
"Ah?" Yu Wenhuaji was stunned: "This is my son's money, give her two million, and I will keep one million? Then who has my son worked so hard for so many years? Isn't this the pension money he saved for you?
"
"Haha, I don't need you to support me in old age. You are overthinking it," Yu Wenshu sneered, "The remaining one million will be given to others next year. If you give it to them in one go, they won't accept it."
Yu Wenhuaji immediately said with a bitter face: "Why? Our family usually pays her a lot of filial piety. Now Shuyi's attitude towards us has gradually changed. There is no need to pay so much, right?"
"You remember," Yu Wenshu said: "When I die, how long you can live depends on how long Shuyi will protect you. If they are only willing to protect you for one day, then you can only live for one day."
Yu Wenhuaji was shocked and was stunned on the spot:
"The prince doesn't like his son so much?"
Yu Wenshu lowered his head, got close to his son's face, and said, "If you weren't my son, I wouldn't like you."
After saying that, Yu Wenshu said coldly: "Give all the money away before the end of this year."
"My son knows," Yu Wenhuaji looked dejected as he watched his father leave.
Yu Wenshu is a smart man. Yang Ming didn't mention culture and smuggling to him in the hall for nothing.
Originally, I was talking about Liang Shidu, why did he turn to smuggling?
It means that whether I care about the Ministry of War's review depends on you.
That's why Yu Wenshu asked his son to spit out all the money and give it to Chen Shuyi, which was equivalent to indirectly honoring the prince.
Yu Wenshu understood very well that ministers are like lambs. When the king kills you, you must be able to take out the meat. If you can't, you are not even a lamb.
So smuggling is not terrible, what is terrible is not knowing how to feed the people above.
Yu Wenshu is having a banquet tonight. He asked Chen Shuming, the minister of Honglu Temple, to be the intermediary. He also invited Chen Shuda, the prince's chief minister, Chen Ni, the chief minister of Chang'an County, Chen Huai, Tongyi Lang, Shen Zunli of Taichang Temple, and Bo Shen, the head of Jingzhao Palace. Shu An and a group of children from the Chen and Shen families who had no real jobs in Beijing.
Among them, Shen Zunli is the biological brother of Shen Wuhua, and Shen Shuan is the younger brother of Shen Wuhua. Their official wives are the princesses of Old Chen and the sisters of Chen Shubao.
It is conservatively estimated that the Chen family and the Shen family have more than a dozen married couples, and the two families are almost becoming one family.
If Yu Wenshu wants to please Chen Shuyi, he must also please the Chen family and the Shen family. Given his status, this is actually considered condescending.