Chapter 2476 the return of the market to the market
Chapter 2476 The market returns to the market
Author: Sheep Little Star
Chapter 2476 The market returns to the market
Bao Ci Hall.
"Is the official leaving the palace?"
After hearing this from Mrs. Xu, Liu E couldn't help but be curious.
Sixth brother actually left the imperial city quietly?
Are you going to investigate public sentiment?
In fact, Liu E did guess part of the truth, and Li Jiejie's palace did have the intention to examine public opinion, but it turns out to be shallow on paper.
Although there is a large amount of literature in his memory, historical books are only the carrier of records. Whether they are true or false, and whether there are any errors or omissions, they still need to be corrected by themselves.
Zhouqiao.
Not long after, Zhang Maoze boarded the carriage with a bowl of hot mafu.
"How much does this bowl cost?"
Hearing this question, Zhang Mao was stunned for a moment, and then quickly replied.
"Fifteen cents a bowl."
Fifteen cents a bowl?
Not cheap.
After learning the exact number, Li Jie suddenly had this idea in his mind.
Seeing Li Jie's expression, Zhang Maoze didn't know for a moment whether the officials thought it was cheap or expensive.
Maybe it feels cheap.
After all, the money that officials come into contact with on a daily basis is tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars. If the exact figure of Wen is really accurate, it is very small.
"Are many people buying it?"
Li Jie took the mafu presented by Zhang Maoze and took a sip.
As expected of being made from sesame seeds, this stuff is really fragrant and can taste a bit sweet.
Sugar is an important source of energy for humans. Sugar is often accompanied by delicious food, but obtaining sugar is never easy.
From the earliest honey, to maltose, to sucrose, although there are more and more ways to obtain sugar, sugar is still a luxury product in agricultural civilization.
Therefore, a bowl of mafu sold for 15 cents is not too outrageous, because apart from sugar, sesame seeds are not cheap either.
"a lot of."
Although he didn't understand why the official asked this, Zhang Maoze still answered truthfully.
"Who are the people buying?"
"What are the characteristics?"
Are the officials testing me?
After hearing these two questions, Zhang Mao couldn't help but have an idea.
Fortunately, Zhang Maoze has a very good memory. In fact, if he had not had a good enough memory, he would not have been picked by Lei Yungong.
"Mainly scholars and followers of aristocratic families."
Zhang Maoze remembers it clearly because these two types of people are easy to identify. Scholars generally wear Confucian shirts, with only a few styles, and most of them have wide sleeves.
The attire of servants is mainly narrow-sleeved clothes, the tops are usually jackets (short clothes), and the bottoms are basically trousers.
Dressing up like this is mainly to facilitate movement.
After all, a servant's job is to serve the master's family. If the clothes are too loose, it will not be efficient in doing things.
Because the characteristics were obvious, Zhang Mao counted the customer categories with just a brief recall.
"Um."
Hearing this, Li Jie nodded slightly, and then he did not continue to ask, but changed the subject.
"This stuff tastes good. Remember to bring a copy to the eldest lady when you return to the palace."
Zhang Mao's answer was similar to what Li Jie expected. The price of a bowl of fifteen cents was indeed too expensive for ordinary people.
Of course, Zhang Mao should buy the one with the best taste. If a bowl of mafu costs fifteen cents, I'm afraid this thing won't become popular.
Just like the roast duck of later generations, there are many for more than ten yuan, dozens of yuan, and hundreds of yuan.
Immediately afterwards, Li Jie successively inspected the prices of daily necessities such as tea, rice, oil, and salt.
The final results were mixed.
There have been no major disasters in recent years, and the price of rice is not high, although it has increased due to the war.
But 40 Wen can still buy a bucket of rice, that is, one stone of rice costs about 400 Wen. When converted, one kilogram of rice is about 3-4 Wen.
The price of oil has not fluctuated much, it is still about 30 yuan per pound.
There was no distinction between cooking oil and lamp oil in the Song Dynasty, they were both vegetable oils.
At the current oil price level, if a scholar reads at night, the average daily cost is about 5 yuan.
For ordinary people, the cost of cooking is roughly the same.
There is no fluctuation in the price of firewood. Among the four types of firewood, rice, oil and salt, only the price of salt has increased significantly.
Today, the price of a pound of salt is as high as 44 Wen, which has reached the warning line set by the court.
(PS: The Song Dynasty had clear regulations on the selling price of salt. According to different salt products, different time nodes, and different regions, there are different regulations, which are relatively complicated. Stars directly take 44 texts.)
Before the war with Xixia, the green and white salt transported from Xixia to the capital was only about 20 to 30 yuan per catty.
Although the price is not cheap, the quality of summer salt is better. Even if the price is slightly higher than that of solution salt, the people in Bianliang City will still buy green and white salt.
However, now that the imperial court has issued a ban, salt from Xixia cannot be imported, and there is considerable turmoil in the border areas. Therefore, the price of salt has soared.
In less than half a year, the price has nearly doubled.
For the lower class people whose daily income is only tens of yuan, the price of salt is indeed too high.
The price of salt must be brought down!
Of course, Li Jie has a mature sea salt production process. Even with the current productivity level, sea salt production efficiency can be doubled.
But the current dilemma is not entirely due to the inability to keep up with productivity.
Rather, it is more a matter of institutional reasons.
From the Song Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, salt was one of the important forbidden commodities.
Nowadays, the salt method of the dynasty is mainly based on entering into the middle, making compromises, and supplementing by breaking up.
In both entering and exiting, merchants purchase grain, then transfer it to border areas or military activity areas, and finally use salt banknotes as the settlement method.
The difference between the two is that the entry is completely equivalent to salt banknotes, while the compromise is to give part of the money or part of the tea and salt.
As for Zhebo, merchants use cash or millet, silk and other materials to purchase tea, salt and other items directly from the government according to the price.
The current Yanyan system is roughly similar to the Gancha system, and both have drawbacks such as circumvention and false estimation.
At the same time, production monopoly and official purchasing and marketing strategies are not only inefficient, but also cause serious corruption problems.
For the authorities, prohibited commodities such as salt and tea are tools and means for the authorities to exploit the people.
However, a hierarchical management system will inevitably bring about a large and bloated management organization, and these are the root causes of the problem.
If the country is compared to an enterprise, there is no doubt that the Song Dynasty also suffered from the common problems of large enterprises.
Huge administrative expenses and serious corruption problems have directly led to the inflated price of salt.
Therefore, if you want to reduce salt prices to normal levels, simply expanding production capacity and increasing supply is useless, or the effect is not obvious.
Only by changing the source, that is, the prohibition system, can the price of salt be reduced.
How to change?
History has already given the answer. Following the laws of economics and introducing market means, officials cannot be both referees and athletes.
What is in the market belongs to the market, and what is official belongs to the official.
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Happy New Year to everyone, don’t be a Yang person, it’s really uncomfortable to be Yang