It was not until the end of June that Shao Shude received a complete set of information about Qian Jian.
There was no way, his requirements were too high, and the latest data had to be compiled. Therefore, the prime ministers of the Political Affairs Hall sent five hundred miles urgent messengers to Yunnan, Liaodong, Anxi and other places to collect all the gold, silver, and copper that had been developed or would be developed this year.
The mine statistics were completed and an initial output was estimated. Finally, Zhao Guangfeng, the minister of Zhongshu, Han Jian, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Shen Ping, the new superintendent of the Shaofu, came to report in person.
Qian Jian, as the name suggests, is an institution that mints money, and its immediate superior is the Shaofu.
Money cannot be minted privately. The "Laws of Xia" clearly stipulates: "Those who steal money will die and their family registration will be lost."
"Those who have prepared the making tools but have not yet cast them will have to move away for three years."
"If you grind it into coins by mistake, make them thin and small, and take the copper for profit, you will have to move away for two years."
In the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan gave furnaces to the princes and allowed them to mint money to reward their merits. In Shao Shude's impression, he gave it to two princes, one of whom was Li Shimin.
This was a dangerous precedent. Fortunately, the rulers of the Tang Dynasty were very clear-headed and did not do so until Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty gave An Lushan a furnace in his later years and allowed him to mint money privately.
In the fourth year of Wude (621), the Tang Dynasty set up money supervisors in Luoyang, Taiyuan, Chengdu and Youzhou to mint money. Two years later, Guilin Qian Supervisors were added. By the Tianbao reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, there were 11 money supervisors in the country.
There were 99 money-making furnaces. By the end of the Tang Dynasty, the number had increased slightly, and there were more than 100 money-making furnaces.
Daxia currently has 27 money prisons and more than 200 money-casting furnaces. The largest one is located in Jiangzhou, Hedong Road, with more than 90,000 coins minted annually.
However, in recent years, the former Xiande Mansion of Bohai State, now the Tongshan Qianjian of Daxia
, the amount of money minted suddenly increased to more than 60,000 yuan, the growth rate was very alarming, and it was expected to replace Jiangzhou Money Supervisor.
The third place was originally Minzhou Qianjian, with an annual mint of more than 30,000 coins, but last year it was directly surpassed by the Qianjian of Dali Prefecture, Yunnan Province, ranking fourth. With the continuous development of Yunnan copper mines, Minzhou Qianjian is expected to
The supervisor's ranking will further decline.
Coining has actually always been an important source of income for the imperial court. Moreover, for a healthy economy, if the total economic volume increases, you have to invest more currency in the economic field, otherwise it will cause deflation and damage the economy.
If it is serious, it will cause prices to plummet, farmers and handicraftsmen to go bankrupt, and shake the foundation of society.
"More than 600,000 coins are minted in a year, and 240,000 silver coins are minted, totaling one million." After reading the data, Shao Shude said: "However, I have a question, and I have to ask. What was the copper output in the Tang Dynasty? How much is it today?
geometry?"
"Your Majesty, the maximum copper production in the Tang Dynasty was one year. In the early years of Emperor Xuanzong's Tianbao reign, 327,000 coins were minted that year." Shen Ping, the governor of the Shaofu, replied: "After the difficulties, many copper mines were abandoned due to wars, and the amount of coins minted was
Gradually declining..."
In the 20th year of Zhenyuan (804) of Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty, 135,000 coins were minted.
In the first year of Emperor Changqing's reign (821), Emperor Muzong of the Tang Dynasty minted 150,000 coins.
In the eighth year of Emperor Wenzong's reign (834), the amount was less than 100,000.
The number of coins minted has been steadily declining. This is due to wars, the exhaustion of copper mines in the early years, the high cost of coining coins, and the decline in the court's control. A large number of copper blocks cannot be collected, and they flow into private coins or copper coins.
The reasons for this are very complex.
"Is the tax on gold, silver and copper still one-fourth?"
"yes."
“Is there more private mining and metallurgy, or government mining and metallurgy?”
“Private mining and metallurgy are the big players.”
"I understand." Shao Shude thought for a moment and said, "Can the tax rates be increased for gold, silver, and bronze classes?"
"It's possible, but the output will definitely drop significantly." Chu Shenping said.
"Is there any precedent?"
"During the reign of Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty, taxes on official and private copper smelting were raised. As a result, output dropped sharply, copper prices rose sharply, and minting coins became unprofitable. A large number of copper smelting companies in Jiangnan were closed. Later, money supervisors were added in Yuzhou, Hedong, and Shangzhou, Gyeonggi Province.
Only then did the amount of money minted recover."
Yes, it is possible to lose money while making money. This is not a joke, but a reality.
Mining, transportation, smelting, and casting all have costs. When the cost exceeds the value of the copper coin itself, casting money becomes unprofitable.
In the Tang Dynasty, many copper mines were not exploited. In addition to war factors, there were also economic reasons.
The Tang Dynasty also banned private mining, but as a result, the output of precious metals plummeted, costs rose sharply, and the court's revenue dropped. The reason for the drop in output was that costs sharply increased, resulting in losses, and a large number of mines had to be closed.
Don't overestimate the capabilities of the bureaucracy. This is not a modern society of fine management. In ancient times, it was a dead end to engage in a state-owned economy, but the risks were really high - Bohai Trading Company now earns more than 100,000 yuan a year.
Shao Shude deeply doubted that if it were done privately, the profits would definitely be more than this.
After suffering losses, Tang Ting found a way, that is, the "fertilizer mines" that are relatively easy to mine and are expected to be low cost are directly operated by the government, while other mines are uniformly handed over to private mining, and the court collects 25% of the output as tax.
.
Directly operated mines have also adopted the method of recruiting "pit households" to contract to further improve efficiency and reduce costs, so that they can be maintained.
Shao Shude also feels that this is probably the optimal solution under real circumstances, and the officials who came up with this compromise method are very capable.
In terms of mining, the Xia Dynasty inherited the policy of the Tang Dynasty, which was a government-private partnership with a tax rate of 25%. Except for a quarter of the output of privately mined mines, which was used as tax and handed over to the Qian Supervisor to mint money, the rest
The imperial court would also purchase part of it, mainly using grain and cloth, and then give it to the Qian Supervisor to mint money.
This is actually a way to digest land tax.
Grain is relatively bulky, and transportation costs are extremely high in places with poor transportation conditions. It may even incur huge losses when transported to the central government, so it can only be kept in local warehouses. If there are mines nearby, part of it can be digested locally by purchasing precious metals.
, cast into copper coins and then transport them away. This is an old wisdom from the Tang Dynasty, and it is a no-brainer.
"Sometimes, I feel that we should simply leave mining and metallurgy to businessmen. Many mine supervisors have no idea whether they can make a quarter of the profit in a year after deducting costs." Shao Shude snorted, somewhat
Said helplessly.
Zhao Guangfeng and others lowered their heads and did not answer.
They know that the saint is just complaining. If you leave it to private mining, you can comfortably collect a quarter of the mining tax, but they may conceal the output.
So, it is difficult no matter what you do.
Furthermore, many mines also produce gold and silver, which is highly profitable and much more profitable than copper.
"How much is the annual gold production?" Shao Shude turned to the end and saw several records of gold production from mining and metallurgy, but the production was not indicated. He was immediately very dissatisfied and asked.
"Your Majesty, the annual payment for mining and metallurgy is more than three thousand taels." Fortunately, Chu Shenping remembered this figure and replied immediately.
"Including gold purchased from commercial mines, right?"
"yes."
"Where do they usually go?"
"Except for being given to the Shaofu to make goldware, most of them were sold."
"Why sell?"
"make money……"
"Huh?" Shao Shude really didn't understand these things and asked curiously: "How to make money?"
"Imitating the old wisdom of the former Tang Dynasty Shaofu, buy silk first and then sell it."
"Tell me more specifically."
"In the former Tang Dynasty, there was a money shortage and prices plummeted. The young master used 500,000 yuan to buy silk in the market. After the prices rose, he slowly sold them out. In the end, he made about one-tenth of the money."
Shao Shude laughed after hearing this.
Demo, you are really good at playing!
Isn't this a trick of the stock market makers to accumulate funds at a low position and pump up and sell out? A 10% return is actually not bad.
At the same time, it also shows from the side that in order to raise money, Tang Ting really used all kinds of methods and was very subjective. The Shaofu personally entered the market and used minted money to be long first and then short, selling high and buying low.
"Don't do it like this." Shao Shude waved his hand and said, "Let's cast gold coins. You can decide on a model and determine the price comparison with silver coins and copper coins. This way you can earn more."
After saying that, he silently made an estimate: the overall cost of the silver coins minted by the money supervisors is relatively low, and the cost of copper coins is relatively high. Calculating it all together, it should be less than one million. Even if gold is included, it will not reach one million.
.
Logically speaking, such an income is not worthy of Shao Shude's personal attention.
But on the one hand, this still has great potential for growth. It is very likely that the income will exceed one million or even two million in the future.
In addition, it is also related to the fact that he attaches great importance to currency and finance. Before this, he even rejected the ministers' proposal to merge the money supervisors into the tax envoy yamen.
"The money supervisors were separated from the Shaofu and a new yamen was established. You can think of the name." Shao Shude said: "Each department has an additional money making envoy to take charge of the money supervisor. The money supervisor has only one task, which is to cast coins.
The required gold, silver and copper materials will be provided by the Shaofu."
"In this way, the annual revenue of the state has three sources, namely, land tax, commercial tax, and money supervision." He finally concluded: "The revenue from commercial tax and money supervision all goes to the court. This amount is about 23 million yuan. Compared with
After the implementation of the two tax laws of the former Tang Dynasty, the peak of 18 million has increased significantly..."
He originally wanted to say "but it's not enough", but he was worried that the officials would misunderstand his intentions and impose excessive taxes, so he stopped.
The income of more than 20 million yuan includes customs duties, stamp duties, over-taxes, residence taxes, salt, tea, horses... and a series of business-related taxes. There is no need to share profits with the local area. Just think about it.
Beautiful.
Land tax includes household tax and local tax. Shao Shude recently discussed with the prime ministers and felt that the amount of land tax could be appropriately reduced and fixed. If converted into money, it would be roughly 189 million yuan a year.
——This part needs to be divided with local areas.
If we say that during the Pre-Tang Dynasty, business tax and land tax were divided in half, the Xia Dynasty already accounted for about 55%.
In fact, this fiscal revenue still has a strong "Military First" characteristic, that is, it was collected too harshly in the past, but now tax reductions and exemptions cannot reduce it much.
Let’s talk about it in the future.
In terms of expenditure, the rewards for the imperial army and food expenses will cost about more than 10 million a year - in the absence of war.
The state army also needs about 8 million a year. After all, the number is large and it will definitely be reduced gradually in the future.
The number of soldiers is not large yet, and the current annual expenditure is more than one million, but in the future, the number of soldiers will increase, and the expenditure will also rise.
It can be seen that in peacetime, military expenditure accounts for half of the central government's fiscal revenue.
Compared with the army, the expenditure of more than 10,000 officials in the country is much smaller, reaching several million a year.
After excluding these expenditures, the central fiscal revenue is probably less than 7 million a year. Excluding palace expenses, station subsidies, banquets, daily expenses (including consumables for the government and the army), etc., there is actually not much left.
many.
This financial structure is generally similar to that of the Tang Dynasty, but it is enlarged in the same proportion.
Of course, whether it is central or local, there is actually a large amount of hidden income. This has not been included in fiscal revenue in previous dynasties, but it is real.
For example, in the Tang Dynasty, there were a large number of public lands. When an official went to serve in a certain place, the local government would allocate part of the output of the public land as his income during his tenure. After he left office, the distribution would cease, which is called "office land".
Officials also had kitchen waste money, money for handcraft lessons and even interest income from local government loans, etc. A lot of it was called "external tax collection" in the Tang Dynasty. Most of it was local income, used to subsidize officials and other expenses.
In addition, the court sometimes sold some commodities. In the Tang Dynasty, Sinong Temple often sold grain, fruits, vegetables, livestock, etc. that the court could not consume to obtain income.
The pastoral supervisors also sell horses and the like, which generates quite a lot of income.
Generally speaking, the Tang Dynasty government held a large amount of land in its hands, and this part of the hidden income was not included in the finance. The Xia Dynasty was basically similar, and even because the country had just been founded, the government had more public land.
By the Northern Song Dynasty, the amount of land in the hands of the government had dropped sharply, and because the commodity economy was more developed, expenditures were higher and finances were more difficult.
During the Tianxi reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty, there was no war. Once the expenditure for that year was calculated, it actually reached more than 150 million yuan. I don’t know how it was spent.
"That's it." Shao Shude stood up and said: "The overall framework of the fiscal and taxation reform has been finalized. The taxation yamen will be established as soon as possible. From now on, the taxation and expenditure will be all the responsibility of the taxation. The money supervisor will be independent.
, juxtaposed with the Six Ministries and Nine Temples, and is directly under the jurisdiction of Menxia Province. I intend to charge half of the land tax as a whole, but there are differences in each road."
He did not mention the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is the royal family's purse. The income belongs to the internal treasury and does not go into the national treasury.
The three major trading companies of Bohai, Annan and Xiyu operate independently, and whoever gets the dividends belongs to whom.
"I will give you half a year." Shao Shude said: "In the first month of next year, the taxation office will complete the preparations. I will give you a two-year transition period for the new tax system, and it will be officially implemented in the eighth year of Tongguang (923)."
(Updated late, but this kind of chapter is too damn difficult to write... it consumes too much brain cells. I was even criticized for writing it, which is probably over the top. No other author is as self-destructive as me. With the financial situation since the mid-Tang Dynasty,
The basics are deduced and written in such detail, so realistic...)