"The way to increase utilization is to limit its flow and open up its source."
"However, the price of salt in Beijing has reached as high as forty-four cents. It is urgent to resolve this matter. If it is recruited from other places, it is difficult to guarantee the timeliness."
"Therefore, I dare to ask Your Majesty to open a warehouse to help with the price of salt!"
The opening of warehouses for relief that Lu Yijian spoke of naturally did not mean giving free salt to the people in the capital.
He was referring to putting some of the temporarily stored salt in central Beijing into the market at a relatively low price to calm prices.
In ancient times, this system also had a special name.
Ping Bian.
The Ping Bian system can be traced back to the Warring States Period. Li Li, the minister of the Wei State, established the Ping Bian system. Since then, the Wei State has gradually become prosperous and strong.
After that, it continued through the generations.
The core of the Ping Bian method lies in the word "籴", which when broken down means "rice". As the name suggests, the government actively purchases rice grains.
Of course, the purchase here occurred when the grain price was low. When the price of grain recovered, or when the price of grain was slightly higher, the court would sell the rice.
In the third year of Chunhua reign of Emperor Taizong, there was a great harvest around the capital, and the price of grain was low, which hurt farmers. In view of the low prices, Emperor Taizong finally remembered the flat-buying system that had been handed down from ancient times.
Then the Changping warehouse was set up. If the harvest was bad every year, rice would be sold at a reduced price to provide relief. If the harvest was good every year, the rice would be sold for storage.
Taizong remembered it too late, so there was nothing he could do about it.
After all, Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty won the country improperly. He was busy fighting for power and profit before and never thought of calming down prices.
As for the Taizu period, at that time, foreign troubles had not been eliminated, and the troops were at war all year round. In order to supply military supplies, Taizu ordered various places to set up markets and buy them for military needs.
(PS: Hebian and Pingbian, both seem to be purchased by the government, but their inner meanings are completely different.
The original intention of the Hebian system was to raise military rations. Although it had the effect of stabilizing prices, it was only incidental.
Ping Bian is the real means of control)
Although there is no "salt" in the Pingbian system, the concept of regulating prices is the same.
Besides, there is not a lot of salt stored in Beijing.
After all, salt is an important strategic material for the country. In a sense, salt and tea are roughly equal to money.
Because they are all hard currency.
Moreover, salt is also one of the items that is relatively durable in storage.
Although it is impossible to release all the stored salt at once, the amount of stored salt is still enough just to calm prices.
When prices ease slightly, the salt from the outside world will also arrive.
"Can."
After receiving the official's approval, Lu Yijian continued.
"Those who sell southern salt from Liangchi used to invest money in the capital to deal with goods. Last year, the annual income was only 230,000 yuan, which was a loss of 140,000 yuan compared to the third year of Tianxi.
It can be seen that the Salt Law has reached a point where it has to be changed!”
"However, salt is the first of all flavors, and it is also the foundation of the country. It is related to the salt policy, and I think it is important to deal with it and slow down the urgency."
"Perhaps we can imitate the tea method and try it out in a certain place, such as Xixi Yanzhen, to see the effect."
"As for specific matters, we should give orders to hundreds of officials, give detailed instructions, and pool our efforts to select those who are good and follow them."
The other side.
Looking at Lu Yijian's eloquent talk, Ding Wei couldn't help but feel a feeling of "the future generations are to be feared" in his heart.
Lu Yijian is indeed a capable official!
Two generations of the Lu family have been outstanding. In the future, the name of the Donglai Lu family will probably become even more famous.
After sighing slightly, a trace of luck emerged from Ding Wei's heart.
Fortunately, he and Lu Yijian have reached a tacit understanding.
Otherwise, if he becomes an enemy of this kind of opponent, his end may not be much better.
Lu Yijian's ability was already very strong, and coupled with his family background, he was even more powerful. At the same time, there were a large number of northern officials standing behind him.
Just thinking about such a political enemy makes me feel terrible.
In fact, the reason why Lu Yijian stood out today and showed off his abilities without any scruples was also related to the agreement reached by Ding Wei.
Before the 'truce', the two were rivals and political enemies, while Ding Wei was the prime minister and Lu Yijian only participated in political affairs.
If exposed too much, it will inevitably arouse Ding Wei's fear.
At that time, it's hard to say what the officials will do. After all, it's hard to guess what the officials are thinking.
Lu Yijian knew exactly how Dante would react.
Suppress!
And it will probably be suppressed to the maximum extent!
As long as Ding Wei is the prime minister, he will never have a chance to get ahead.
Therefore, Lu Yijian would carefully hide it before.
And now.
Not needed for the time being.
It is foreseeable that if there are no accidents, the official family can be in office for at least several decades. In addition, with the official family's scheming, most of the officials will be overwhelmed.
In this case, whether they are civil servants from the north or civil servants from the south, the first thing they need to consider is not to be wary of each other.
Instead, expand power first, then fight for it, and then seize it.
"Can."
Looking at Lu Yijian, who was quite different from the past, Li Jie couldn't help but think a little more.
What caused Lu Yijian to undergo such a transformation?
In the past, Lu Yijian would not show such sharpness. Although his family background was prominent, his style was to live in peace and harmony.
Did it get support from someone?
Wang Zeng?
Regarding Lu Yijian, who was born in the iron-blooded Northern Party, the first key figure that Li Jie thought of was, of course, the former Northern Party leader Wang Zeng.
Although Wang Zeng is far away in Qingzhou now, even if Wang Zeng is in Qingzhou, his influence has not been weakened much.
For a 'relatively young' prime minister like Wang Zeng, the demotion was only temporary. Maybe in two or three years, maybe in one year, the other party might return to the center.
After all, there are too many such cases.
As long as officials from the northern clique still firmly occupy a large number of mid-level positions, the influence of northern clique officials will not decrease much.
Just Wang Zeng?
Li Jie felt that it was not enough. Just looking at the political styles of Wang Zeng and Lu Yijian, they seemed to be of the same mind.
However, this is only superficial comradeship.
Neither Lu Yijian nor Wang Zeng had any reservations deep in their hearts.
According to the original history, the king recommended Lu Yijian to be the prime minister twice in the sixth year of Tiansheng (1028) and the seventh year of Tiansheng.
It wasn't until the second recommendation that Lu Yijian succeeded in becoming prime minister.
Later, Lu Yijian also reciprocated the favor, and after Wang Zeng was dismissed as prime minister, he also recommended Wang Zeng's restoration.
However, even so, the two eventually broke up.
Then, the fight between the two angered Renzong, and eventually both of them were dismissed.
Precisely because he had enough information, Li Jie was convinced that Wang Zeng alone was not enough to make such a big change in Lu Yijian.
There must be other reasons!
Maybe Kou Zhun?
If you add this old minister who is still alive, it is very possible.