Chapter 60 The Sound of Frogs Discusses the Harvest Year (4)
Facing the eyes of everyone looking for answers, Zhao Si slowly said: "Those who have done business, especially those who transport goods from the south to the north, or those who transport goods from the north to the south, know best that the cost of the goods is not actually the goods themselves, but the cost of the goods.
It’s about the transportation costs of trafficking it, and the risks that need to be taken.”
"Is salt valuable? There are three types of salt in our country, the salt from Jiechi in Hedong County, the salt from Qilu, Hebei and Lianghuai coasts, and the well salt from Sichuan. In the past, salt was collected by the government for exclusive use, and the salt from Jiechi was purchased from salt households.
The price ranges from ten to fifteen cents per catty, and is resold to salt dealers for twenty cents, and then sold to households for anywhere from forty to seventy cents per catty."
"The purchase price of the powdered salt ranges from four to fifteen cents per catty, and the price when sold to salt merchants ranges from twenty to forty cents per catty. However, the purchase price of four cents for the powdered salt is a loss, and it is a forced purchase price by the government.
The normal purchase price should be fifteen cents. Therefore, most of the people who make salt along the coast are prisoners or dispatched laborers, and the output is extremely low..."
"If this salt is resold to the hinterland, the price of salt can rise to a maximum of one hundred to two hundred cents per catty. In order to curb the price of salt, the government has set a maximum price of four hundred cents per catty. Now it is two hundred cents.
Wen per catty. It’s ridiculous.”
The students present were shocked as Zhao Si counted out the numbers one by one. Do officials actually remember these complicated and boring numbers?
"What is the price of private salt? According to a report from Jiangxi County, the price of official salt in the southern prefectures and counties is forty to fifty cents per catty, and the quality is extremely poor. Not to mention being mixed with sediment, it is still less than a catty.
The salt sold by private sellers in Nanhai County, Lingnan, costs 30 cents per catty. Not to mention the high quality. Buy one catty and get half a catty free. This works out to 20 cents per catty of salt, which is nearly half cheaper than official salt. Of course the people are willing to buy it.
Private salt.”
"Let me tell you another figure. In the Yanjing area of Northern Liao Dynasty, the price of salt is ten to fifteen cents per catty. This is not private salt, but the official salt price."
Hearing this, the students present were in an uproar.
The salt in the Northern Liao Dynasty is actually cheaper than the salt in our Song Dynasty? Is it because our Song Dynasty is richer than the bitter and cold Khitan, so the price is also more expensive?
"Why is this happening? Because there is no official salt operation in Beiliao, it must be that they look down on the salt tax."
Everyone laughed softly. Most of the Khitan nobles in the Northern Liao Dynasty were busy worshiping Buddhism, chanting sutras, hunting and drinking, and had no time to care about such trivial matters. The Han officials were busy trying to please their superiors and putting money into their pockets, and they had no time to care about these things.
However, there is no salt tax in Beiliao and the price of salt is low, which does not mean that the people in Yanjing area live a happy life.
Salt sells for more than ten cents, because if it is more expensive, the people there really can't afford it, and they would rather use the little money they have to buy food. They can survive for a while without salt, but they really can't survive long without food.
According to internal reference information, taking Wuqing County of Yanjing as an example, there were still 6,700 households inspected ten years ago, which was much less than the 10,000 households in the early Northern Liao Dynasty.
After years of excessive taxes and hard labor, the people suffered so much that they abandoned their land and fled with their families to the mountains in the west of Yanjing. This year, it is estimated that there will be less than 3,000 households left.
Zhao Si continued above: "Another reason is that there are many salt fields on the seaside in the Yanjing area. If they are close, the transportation cost is low, and the price is also low. As I said just now, the transportation cost accounts for the price of the goods.
A large part. So if you want to keep the price low, you must reduce the transportation cost."
"How to reduce transportation costs? Of course, we need to build express roads and dredge inland water transportation. This is also the first major thing that I and the Minister of Finance will do in the new year, which is to start the Shikoku Highway and inland water transportation projects."
"Only when the roads are dredged can it be possible to collect taxes uniformly and remove tax cards from various places. Why? Because the roads are dredged. Transshipment via national highways and river transport is the fastest and most economical even if tolls are added. Everyone is willing to pass through.
To transport bulk goods on national highways and rivers, the imperial court only needs to set up tax collection points on important roads. This is a mutually reinforcing principle."
Zhao Si began to write and draw on the blackboard, "The imperial court used licenses to supervise rather than control the salt production industry. The salt produced in these private or official salt farms must pay salt taxes, be transported in the middle, and sold later.
Don’t care about anyone, everyone will show off their talents and have their own competition.”
"Whoever has lower transportation costs can sell at a lower price than others, attract people to buy more, and earn more benefits than others. The National Bureau of Statistics conducted a survey. The salt farm increased its scale and improved
The sun-dried salt method reduces the cost to three cents per catty. Including the salt tax of six cents per catty, the market price is only nine cents. From Haizhou and other places to Jiangxi by sea and water, the freight is only six cents per catty. Added together
It’s only fifteen cents, plus the profit, it’s twenty cents. It’s the same price as Lingnan private salt.”
"But can the risks borne by private salt be compared with official salt?"
When the students heard this, they were all a little excited. Yes, it is indeed cheaper after this calculation. This is Huai salt from thousands of miles away. If it is official salt from Lingnan, it is even cheaper.
In this way, the people will benefit, the merchants will make money, the government will receive taxes, and all three parties will benefit.
Building national roads and connecting rivers has such a great positive significance? It is really unexpected. Where did the officials clearly understand these principles? These are all mentioned in the books of sages.
...
After another two-quarters of an hour of discussion, Zhao Si looked at the students present and couldn't help but ask again.
"Everyone, I have talked so much, has anyone touched the essence of these topics? It doesn't matter, just say whatever comes to mind."
After waiting for a while, someone started to speak. This is a rare opportunity to express yourself in front of officials, so you must seize it.
Many of the speeches were empty and useless, but some of them still had something to say.
"It is better to believe in no books than to have no books at all. We must start from practice."
“Consider the seemingly contradictory concepts of people-centeredness and taxation together, but they are actually the same two ends.”
"Your Majesty, I think your strategy is to focus on property and let go of individuals."
Well, who is this talent?
Zhao Si followed the voice and found it, it was Ye Xun.
Not only was he an active member of the "Tax Reform Debate", he was also recommended to the Tax Affairs Department of the Ministry of Planning to participate in the tax reform work.
Zhao Si pointed at him and asked.
"Ye Xun, why do you say that?"
"Your Majesty, after listening to your speech today, I have benefited a lot and realized a direction. Your Majesty has been standardizing and classifying all products into traceable tracks. If there are traces to follow, it will naturally be convenient.
Control. But it is completely open to management and so on. This kind of openness, in essence, is to let go of people's creation of wealth, allowing everyone to use their intelligence and talents to show their talents within the scope stipulated by the law.
Use your magical power to create more wealth."
"Wonderful! Very wonderful!" Zhao Si couldn't help but clapped his hands and exclaimed, "That's very right. I have said so much, but the bottom line is actually to let individuals go, let everyone use their intelligence and talents to create more wealth
.Only in this way can the imperial court receive more taxes."
Speaking of this, Zhao Si sighed: "I dare not say that the tax collectors in our dynasty are unprecedented, at least they are unprecedented. There are tax collectors on the way out of the country, there are tax collectors at the crossings across the river, and there are tax collectors at the gates entering and exiting the county. The common people go out of the village and enter the city to sell their goods.
Vegetables and salted fish are all taxed."
"Exhausting the lake to catch fish is like killing the goose to lay eggs. Exhausting the lake to catch fish!" Zhao Si sighed.
You are a genius, remember in one second: Red Oasis: This chapter has been completed!