armyinform Chapter 1163 Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Chapter 1163 Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Chapter 1163 Turning Crisis into Opportunity
The West Hall of the Secretariat within the Imperial Palace.
Except for the officials on duty, everyone else has left.
Zhang Yue, Xue Xiang and Cai Jing were still discussing countermeasures.
The Jieyan salt pond was flooded, resulting in a high probability that there will be no Jieyan salt produced next year.
The court earned 5 million strings of cash in salt tax each year, of which the actual expenditure on salt was more than 3 million strings, and the overestimated expenditure was nearly 2 million strings.
In other words, Zhang Yue used the annual output of 3 million guan of salt to sell for 5 million guan. But now, if the annual output of 3 million guan of salt is not produced, the 5 million guan will be in deficit.
This was a huge political blow to Zhang Yue.
Cai Jing's best plan was to issue new banknotes and abolish old banknotes, forcing merchants holding old banknotes to use cash subsidies. Then, by continuously abolishing old banknotes and issuing new banknotes, he forced merchants who were unwilling to lose their sunk costs to continue to invest.
This did solve Zhang Yue's urgent problem, but it also ruined countless merchants holding salt notes.
The most important thing in business is reputation. Without reputation, everything is gone.
Especially the Jiaoyin Exchange, which is a hen that keeps laying golden eggs. Once the credibility of the salt notes goes bankrupt, the credibility of the Jiaozi will also go bankrupt, and finally the Jiaoyin Exchange will be destroyed together.
Not to mention that the Exchange was Zhang Yue's hard work. Back then, the Zhang family and the Wu family bought a large number of Exchange stocks from internal sources and the market. Now, relying on stable dividends, they have huge incomes every year.
This is a more profitable income than lending.
As far as Zhang Yue knows, Cai Jing also holds a large number of shares in the exchange.
If it were Cai Jing in another time and space, he would resort to such a method of killing the chicken to get the eggs, but this time and space would definitely not happen.
So Cai Jing was playing tricks and included himself and Xue Xiang in the scheme.
Cai Jing used the process of elimination, and the following worst option was what he really wanted to say.
But Cai Jing hesitated for a moment and said, "The worst option is really difficult. That is to abolish the official transportation and official sales, and stop all official sales in the country, and allow merchants to use the exchanged salt notes to buy salt in various places with notes."
Zhang Yue smiled calmly when he heard this. It was true. Cai Jing really did not disappoint him.
It turned out that the salt notes were anchored by Jie salt and Zhang salt. Merchants could go to the salt fields in Jiezhou or Xihe with the salt notes and withdraw salt with the notes.
Although the salt subsidy is no longer available, merchants can now take salt notes to salt fields all over the country and withdraw salt in an amount equal to the salt subsidy.
This may seem like a good idea, but it is actually a scapegoat idea.
Cai Jing's proposal to collect all local salt profits from the central government would inevitably cause serious dissatisfaction among local officials. Since ancient times, the issue of fiscal revenue distribution between the central and local governments has always been a focus of contradiction.
In addition to salt, the local area also has supporting industries surrounding salt, such as official transportation and sale.
Merchants transported salt from other regions to Shaanxi to sell, which involves the issue of cross-regional sales of salt.
Song Dynasty law stipulated that salt in each region must be sold in a certain officially designated area. Anyone who dared to privately refine more than three catties of salt would be put to death, and anyone who sold more than ten catties of official salt to a forbidden area without authorization would be put to death.
In other words, anyone who sells more than three pounds of contraband salt would be put to death. Three pounds of official salt is only a hundred coins, while contraband salt is only thirty or forty coins. However, this crime is punishable by death.
As for cross-regional sales, it is also not allowed. Even if you are transporting official salt, if you sell more than ten kilograms of salt in an area that is not designated by the court, you will be executed.
This shows how strict the laws of the Song Dynasty were.
Selling a little private salt was considered a serious crime, and private salt dealers were in the business of risking their lives. At the same time, prohibiting the sale of official salt across regions was also a way to protect local salt profits.
The words "Anyone who dares to compete with the court for profit will die" were almost written on his face.
But the worst plan broke all of this.
Originally, local governments were responsible for the transportation and sale of official salt. Once they allowed merchants to withdraw it freely, it was tantamount to commercial transportation and sales, which destroyed the entire original system.
It also destroyed the original financial and taxation system, and the resistance and opposition it encountered was much greater than when Zhang Yue first amended the exemption law.
Therefore, it was listed as the worst option by Cai Jing.
After hearing Cai Jing's plan, Zhang Yue first thought about whether this method was feasible.
Zhang Yue leaned back in the chair, stroking the smooth teacup in his hand as he thought carefully.
Based on Zhang Yue's twenty years of experience in handling government affairs, he could see at a glance that Cai Jing's worst plan was feasible.
This is a kind of intuition. If you ask Zhang Yue to explain the reason, he can't explain it at once. But experienced officials have this ability. As soon as he hears the officials' reports, he can make a judgment in his heart whether the things are feasible or not, and whether the plans are reliable or not.
This is a kind of talent, like the first-rate intuition of ancient famous generals on the battlefield.
I just feel that there might be an enemy ambush in this place, but I can't explain why.
The same applies to businessmen. Excellent businessmen have a keen intuition about business opportunities.
Zhang Yue had this intuition in handling government affairs, but not in using troops, so he was destined not to become a famous general, but he could become a famous minister. Now he saw at a glance that Cai Jing's method was the best solution to this problem.
Do you want to ask Zhang Yue why?
Zhang Yue couldn't answer it immediately, but he could look for it in history. The problem he was facing now had similar problems in the Ming Dynasty.
Later, Yuan Shizhen's "Gangyun Method" was the same as Cai Jing's solution.
Zhang Yue said to Cai Jing: "The only two things that benefit the country the most are tea and salt."
"If tea salt is sold commercially, the payment period can be shortened, production can be boosted, and funds can be recovered immediately."
"But the government-run system does have the disadvantages of being inefficient and inflexible."
After a pause, Zhang Yue said, "To be honest, if it can be run by the government, it should be run by the government. If it weren't for the problem with the salt notes, who would be willing to run it privately?"
"The salt law of this dynasty has always been corrupt. At the beginning of Xining, Wang Shugong planned to implement the salt monopoly in Hebei (Hebei was the only place in the world that did not have a salt monopoly. It was not out of kindness, but mainly because the court was afraid that the people of Hebei would defect if the Liao Kingdom attacked). At that time, the court had no money, and the salt monopoly law was used to increase the court's income, but it was opposed by officials such as Han Weigong and Su Zizhan."
If Han Qi hadn't been half a Hebei native, he would have spoken for his hometown. If Han Qi hadn't been there, Hebei would have also been in a salt monopoly, after all, at that time, the Song and Liao dynasties were basically at peace.
Zhang Yue said: "In the tenth year of Xining, private salt was prevalent because the price of salt was too high, and the official salt was too expensive, so people were unwilling to buy it."
"The government salt was distributed in Jingdong and Jingxi, and each household was forced to buy salt according to their wealth and the number of people in the family."
"When the scholar Sima heard about this, he was furious and cursed the salt law for harming the people. The court bought salt cheaply and sold it expensively. The government salt was inferior and forced the people to eat it. They could not finish it and were forced to use force and punishment. In the end, the people went bankrupt and lost money."
In the tenth year of Xining, official salt could not be sold because it was too expensive and of poor quality, and private salt was prevalent everywhere.
At that time, in order to make profits from salt, local officials forced the people to buy official salt. They forced a share of the salt according to the amount of family assets and the number of people in the family. If they refused to buy, they would be tortured. In the end, many people were forced to lose their homes.
Sima Guang cursed the New Party on the stage for this matter.
Zhang Yue emphasized, "It is an indisputable fact that the official salt cannot be sold and the salt law is corrupted."
To be honest, the imperial court has already imposed extremely severe punishments on private salt dealers, but it still cannot stop them.
Not to mention the contraband salt trafficking, isn’t that the specialty of Peng Sun and Peng Jingyi?
The private salt dealers were armed and, as Huang Chao's colleagues, they dared to fight with the officers and soldiers.
In the tenth year of Xining, the imperial court issued a decree to deal with private salt dealers. Once someone reported the private salt dealer, all his property would belong to the informant.
But the problem is that it cannot be banned, and in places where it can be banned, many people died because they could not afford the official salt and the food tasted bland. Even though it was sold at such a high price, the official salt tasted worse than the private salt. In the past, even the official salt used by Emperor Renzong was full of dirt.
After hearing Zhang Yue's words, Xue Xiang and Cai Jing both sighed.
Zhang Yue said: "Since I became an official, I have always remembered what Mr. Ouyang said: If the benefits are widespread, it is difficult for the upper level to monopolize them, and they must be shared with the lower levels. Only then can they flow freely without stagnation."
"Today, the people try to seize the profits from merchants and give one-tenth of them to the public. However, if they want to monopolize the profits, they will lose more... If they want to give all tenths of the profits to the public, they will lose half of them and only get one-third out of ten. It is better to share the profits with the merchants and usually get one-tenth."
"Many officials have been promoting the slogan of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, but who are the people who buy salt? They are all ordinary people. This is actually a method of suppressing commerce and harming agriculture. It is too harsh. The tea monopoly will not be discussed, but the salt monopoly must be changed."
To be honest, the official salt monopoly in the Song Dynasty was too excessive. Once the cost reached the hands of the common people, ten percent of it was lost. The rest was not all given to the court, but mostly embezzled by officials.
Zhang Yue asked, "What do you think, Lord Xue?"
Xue Xiang thought for a moment and said, "If this method is feasible, merchants can earn double the interest, and the common people will not suffer from the oppression of the people."
"But all the official transport matters are handled by the Transportation Department? How do we balance it?"
The transport offices were mostly responsible for transporting grain to the capital, and in order to avoid empty ships, they also often transported salt for sale. Now that the salt was transported and sold commercially, the transport offices would definitely lose their income, which would inevitably arouse opposition from the transport offices of various routes.
Zhang Yue nodded and said, "One third of the salt money income can be distributed to the transportation departments of various ministries."
Xue Xiang said: "This needs to be discussed in detail."
"If all regions of the country were to use salt notes to purchase salt, and if the government transported salt instead of the government transported it, the court's salt revenue would not only not decrease, but would increase greatly."
Zhang Yue nodded upon seeing this.
He had long intended to change the salt law, and at the same time changed the anchor of salt notes from salt from dissolved salt to official salt from various regions.
But he kept silent because he knew there would be opposition from below. Before, Zhang Yue did not have the courage and skills to force reforms.
Now that the Jiezhou Salt Lake has been flooded, it has given him an opportunity.
Turning a crisis into an opportunity and using it to reform into laws is much more logical than simply using centralized power to exert pressure on others and then making changes.
Of course, the latter is also what Zhang Yue is doing.
Zhang Yue glanced at Cai Jing and saw that he was slightly smug. But when he saw his gaze, he immediately lowered his head.
Zhang Yue said to Cai Jing, "Yuan Chang, don't discuss this matter with Prime Minister Zhao Wen or anyone else."
Cai Jing's face turned pale when he heard this, Zhang Yue's trick had arrived.
Because Zhang Yue predicted that Wang Gui would know that the salt pond was flooded, the salt notes would definitely depreciate, and he would definitely let his nephews and nephews sell them short in large quantities to profit from it.
This time, he wants to make Wang Gui and those who use insider information to speculate and short sell fall into a big trap.
As for you, Cai Jing, not informing Wang Gui in advance, you must have lost a lot of points with Wang Gui.