Chapter 251: The Son of Heaven seeks personal gain?
Talking about business?
Looking at the emperor's little fox-like expression, Shen Shangshu couldn't help but be a little more vigilant and said.
"If your Majesty has any business, just give him the order directly. Why do you need to talk about business?"
The smile on Zhu Qiyu's face became thicker and thicker, and he looked a bit malicious and said.
"Shen Qing, you don't need to be so vigilant. This time, I represent the royal family to discuss business with the Ministry of Household Affairs. The deal has been concluded. Maybe Shen Qing won't have to worry about this money for a while in the future."
Is this really a good thing?
Chen Yi's heart moved, but on the surface he remained calm and said.
"Your Majesty, please speak."
However, Zhu Qiyu pointed to the account book in his hand and asked.
"Shen Qing has also seen that the account book in your hand records most of the shops currently operated by the royal family. I call it the imperial store."
"In these shops, the items sold are daily necessities. However, although there are many shops, they are lacking two important goods."
Royal store?
This was a new thing, but after Chen Yi changed his mind for a moment, he was able to understand what was going on.
As mentioned before, royal expenses and the treasury are separate.
Although a certain part of the annual tax revenue will be allocated to the emperor's inner treasury and the treasury of the two palaces and empress dowagers, it is called gold and silver.
But the royal family has to be decent, the emperor has to support the harem, and he has to reward his ministers, so there is always not enough money to spend.
Therefore, starting from the Yongle period, the so-called Huangzhuang appeared one after another.
To put it bluntly, it was the emperor's private land, which was managed by eunuchs and tenants were hired to cultivate the land. All the money and grain earned belonged to the emperor.
However, the emergence of Huangzhuang was just an accident at first.
The Huangzhuang during the Yongle period was formerly the Wangzhuang when Emperor Taizong was King Yan.
In the late Yongle period, Emperor Taizong canceled the imperial village again to show the emperor's selfless intentions.
Nowadays, this thing has started to appear again, because now the vassal king has succeeded him, and the Prince's Palace still had its own private property before.
However, what Chen Yi didn't expect was that the emperor did not follow the old practice of the Yongle period and continue to build an imperial palace, but instead built such an imperial store.
After all, the Ming Dynasty was a farming civilization. Whether it was scholars, squires, or ordinary people, the most important thing was land.
Although Wang Zhen and others were eunuchs, they also purchased a lot of land.
It should be said that as long as more people are added to manage these fields, they can easily be turned into royal estates.
The emperor's behavior of selling his land to open a shop is considered a prodigal among the people!
However, whether it is the Imperial Mansion or the Imperial Store, they are ultimately the emperor's private property, so it is nothing unusual.
Compared to this, Shen Yi was more concerned about the meaning of the emperor's words.
He opened the account book again and looked at it. He had a firm idea of the "business" the emperor mentioned, and said.
"What your majesty said is that what the imperial shop lacks are salt and tea?"
Since ancient times, salt, iron, tea and horses have been the most strictly controlled materials by the imperial court.
Needless to say, horses, as military supplies, basically do not circulate among the people in large quantities, and Taipu Temple specializes in management.
In terms of ironware, the imperial court chose to control the source of iron ore, seize raw materials, and control the production and sale of ironware.
On these two items, it is almost difficult to make any decisions.
The only goods that are really regarded as goods and circulated in large quantities in the private market are salt and tea.
The Ming Dynasty implemented the salt introduction system.
Salt merchants relied on the salt quota given by the court to sell salt to fixed salt farms. The time, place and quantity of sales were all specified in detail to ensure the income from salt tax.
Although the salt law is extremely difficult, because salt is a daily necessity and is controlled by the court, there are still countless people who want to become salt merchants.
Relatively speaking, the Tea Law is relatively simple and is basically derived from the Salt Law, but the control is not that strict and it only prohibits border trade.
For the Ministry of Household Affairs, the income from salt and tea is the largest annual income besides land tax.
The only "business" that can be negotiated by the Emperor of Labor in person is this!
Zhu Qiyu was obviously very satisfied with Shen Yi's success. He nodded and said.
"Yes, it is salt and iron. Our government implements salt and tea official operation. Salt import and large-scale transactions of tea must be approved by the Ministry of Household Affairs and granted permission before they can be carried out."
"To be honest with Shen Qing, I plan to open a salt shop and a tea shop in the imperial shop, and set up a dedicated person to be responsible for the business."
Seeing that the emperor was really planning on this, Shen Yi's face looked a little ugly.
I also knew that the emperor's so-called imperial store would be left to the eunuchs to take care of it.
Although, as far as the Ministry of Revenue is concerned, it doesn't matter whose hands the salt is in, as long as the salt tax can be paid on time and in quantity.
But Shen Shangshu didn't have to think hard to figure out that salt production was much easier to handle in the hands of ordinary salt merchants than in the hands of eunuchs.
However, he is not a fool, and he will not start talking about the emperor competing for the interests of the people at this time.
Holding his breath, Shen Shangshu spoke.
"I wonder how much salt and tea your Majesty plans to exchange for this imperial shop?"
Shen Shangshu thought, if it wasn't too much, he would just give it out evenly. Who would think that the person in front of him was the emperor.
But what he didn't expect was that the emperor opened his mouth and said:
"Salt attracts thirty thousand, tea attracts ten thousand."
What the hell?
Shen Shangshu almost jumped up.
One ounce of salt weighs 300 jins, and one ounce of tea weighs 100 jins.
There were a total of seven salt classes in the Ming Dynasty, with thirty salt fields under their jurisdiction. The annual output of each salt field averaged about one hundred thousand salts.
Thirty thousand salt introductions already account for one-third of a salt farm's annual output.
The same goes for tea. Today's tea production in the Ming Dynasty is about 15 million jins per year. Ten thousand tea is not a small amount.
If calculated in terms of value, the tax paid for each salt is 30 taels, and the cost is 30 taels for the kitchen households, and the selling price is 6 taels and 6 taels.
As for the value of tea tea, it is more expensive than salt.
So 20,000 salt coins and 10,000 tea coins are a huge amount of money, easily two to three hundred thousand taels of silver.
Shen Shangshu originally thought that the emperor would open a royal shop, buy thousands of salt tea, and make tens of thousands of taels of silver, but he did not expect that the emperor would make such a big deal.
Even if he is a man of gold, he will not take away two to three hundred thousand taels from the Ministry of Household Affairs just by touching his lips with red lips and white teeth, right?
At that moment, Shen Shangshu couldn't bear it anymore, stood up and said.
"Your Majesty, this is not a small amount. Twenty thousand salt coins and tens of thousands of tea coins. The annual profit can be hundreds of thousands of taels. These are all taxes and levies of the imperial court."
"It is said that all the four seas are royal territory, so why does your majesty need to compete with the people for profit?"
"Now that the national treasury is empty, silver is needed everywhere. Although the annual income of salt and tea is not as good as the land tax, it is not far away. I hope your majesty will put the country first and think twice before making any move."
Seeing that Shen Yi could no longer sit still, Zhu Qiyu remained calm and spoke.
"Shen Qing is just worried that if the salt and tea are in the hands of eunuchs, it will damage the country's revenue."
"In this case, I can give Shen Qing a guarantee. If these 30,000 salt coins and 10,000 tea coins are handed over to the imperial store, but the tax revenue of the treasury is damaged, then Shen Qing can take my imperial store at any time. How about paying off the debt?"
Shen Shangshu was speechless for a while, and couldn't help but curse in his heart.
What you said is so easy.
What do you mean by using the imperial store to pay off debts? It is your Majesty's property. Who dares to take it after eating it?
Besides, even if he dares to take it, can the court afford to throw this person away?
However, looking at the serious and confident Emperor, Shen Yi calmed down slightly.
Since the emperor said this, at least it means that he has no intention of wasting the tax money that should have been paid to the national treasury.
With this foundation, Shen Shangshu can feel a little more at ease.
However, after pondering for a moment, he still firmly shook his head, stood up and cupped his hands.
"Your Majesty, I apologize for the offence. Even with your golden words, I still cannot agree to this matter."