Chapter 461 The Immortal Family
In the court, there are not many things that the king and his subjects have to work together, but once they do it, the strong execution ability is absolutely terrifying.
After Bao Heizi became the Sansi Envoy, he had long wanted to use the salt method, and this idea has not been a day or two.
Bao Zheng remembers that when he was a child, he only had 12 pounds of salt per pound, and at most 16 pounds. However, in recent years, the price of salt has exceeded 30 pounds, more than doubled.
If the addition is increased, the quality is still reasonable. However, the salt is getting worse and worse now, and it is full of sand, soil and weeds, which are extremely rough.
People who are a little more particular eat pond salt or well salt, and a good pound of well salt can be sold for more than 500 ounces, so ordinary people will not be lucky enough to taste it.
In just 20 or 30 years, salt prices have skyrocketed, but the quality has collapsed. What are the problems?
In Bao Zheng's opinion, it was the imperial court abolishing the system of monopoly sales.
In the past, the imperial court was responsible for the production and sales of all salt. Among them, there were many greed, huge waste, and many disadvantages. Many officials with "information" advocated giving them to merchants to be responsible for transportation and sales. The imperial court only cared for tax collection, which was both simple and profitable for the people.
The young Zhao Zhen believed the foolings of these people and indeed let go of salt. The salt tax increased from 12 million guan to 18 million guan, which seemed to be effective. The ministers also used the results to fool the emperor, but what they didn't want to say was that the salt price soared nearly twice. The real big boss could say that more than 80% of the profits fell into the pockets of salt merchants. Gradually, eating salt became a luxury for the people!
It turns out that the so-called benefit to the country and the people has become a joke, but it is only beneficial to businessmen.
Many people also noticed this problem, either dared not say it, or did not say it, and it was useless. A large group of officials who were fed by salt merchants tried their best to escort it.
When the imperial court wanted to adjust the salt tax, they said that increasing the burden on merchants would eventually harm the people and often left nothing... If it were not for the Xixia and national policies, they would still not be able to move the salt.
But since you have torn apart and show all the disadvantages, you are not polite.
Bao Zheng took decisive action, didn’t the salt merchant stop selling salt?
Well, you guys never buy it!
Bao Heizi directly sealed the eight largest salt shops, and posted a notice to inform the people, Qinfeng Road and other places to exchange grain for salt, which is still effective in Luoyang. You can exchange grain for green salt, or you can convert it into copper, and you will get 7 cents of a pound of japonica rice. In other words, you can buy a pound of green salt for 14 cents.
Compared with the current salt price, it is much cheaper.
Bao Zheng first transferred 5,000 stones. Since the supply of goods was not sufficient, he could only take purchase restrictions. The family could only buy 3 kilograms. But even so, it greatly alleviated the dilemma of salt shortage. The people were excited and very happy.
Luoyang is hosted by Bao Zheng, and Sima Guang has contacted Xixia and is preparing to expand the import of green salt.
Two heavy punches were used, and the situation in Luoyang instantly stabilized.
A mere salt merchant wants to go against the will of heaven! Do you really want to live or die!
Many people think that the salt contest has ended. After all, the strength gap between the two sides is huge, and Your Majesty and your husbands are so persistent. Bao Zheng and Sima Guang are both officials, which is a foregone conclusion. Can anyone turn the tables?
...
"I thought Wang Ning'an was so powerful! That's all!"
A middle-aged man dressed well, and kept placing a piece of beautiful jade as moist as mutton fat in his hand, his eyebrows were straight, showing nobility and arrogance. In front of him, Liu Ji and Xi Ruyan were as if they were two slaves, trembling and uneasy.
Liu Jixian said, "Mr. Cui, we are incompetent and cannot stop the court from doing anything in a rebellious manner. I am ashamed, ashamed!"
The young master Cui smiled and said, "It's okay, you can't stop it. Do you know why?"
Xi Ruyan hurriedly said, "Please give me advice."
"Well, why don't you tell me that although the old man Wen Yanbo is silent, his son is jumping up and down and has found a lot of people."
"Oh?" Xi Ruyan said in surprise: "Maybe Wen Yanbo and Wang Ning'an have colluded with each other for a long time, so what are they going to do?"
Mr. Cui smiled, "Wen Jifu thought he was confidential, but can anyone hide the matters in the northwest from our Cui family? What they want is to collect commercial taxes!"
"What?"
Liu Ji and Xi Ruyan were both so scared that they stood up. They had mentioned the issue of commercial tax in the Song Dynasty, so I won’t say much. In short, the gentry relied on their privileges to exempt themselves from taxes. Take Luoyang as an example. There are tens of thousands of shops, both large and small. Over the course of a year, the commercial tax in Luoyang is less than 300,000 yuan!
The ability to collect so many is thanks to the ability of the bureaucratic system of the Song Dynasty. There is no such huge country like the Ming Dynasty, which cannot even collect hundreds of thousands!
Not to mention others, Liu Ji and Xi Ruyan alone do a lot of business, and when they hear the word "business tax", they are all sensitive.
"Mr. Cui, is this news true?" After asking, Liu Ji felt confused again!
Can Mr. Cui talk nonsense?
"What are they going to do?"
Mr. Cui shook his head, "This specific thing is not clear, but one thing is that salt is the breakthrough! They should want to start with salt and then include other products in it."
Mr. Cui said, throwing the jade on the table casually and smiling faintly.
"It's really true that Wang Ning'an is a genius! With such a large piece of fat there, no wonder that old man Wen Yanbo worked hard for him, no wonder Pang Ji and others changed the direction. The officials of the court, the scholars, and the reputation of the people are all a bunch of local buns who are jealous of money, no exception!"
Liu Ji and Xi Ruyan bowed and listened, thinking that they were included in it!
Of course, these two guys dare not contradict Mr. Cui, and they think that Mr. Cui's words are natural and confident!
Compared with their family, in addition to the Confucius Saint in Qufu, even the current emperor Zhao family, or the previous emperor Chai family, there is also the Liu family, which is known as a thousand-year-old family!
Compared with the Cui family, it is much different, not the same level at all!
Mr. Cui cursed a few times, then chuckled: "You don't have to worry. First, check the direction of the wind. When they use all the means, I want to see how long this wind can last."
When Liu Ji and Xi Ruyan saw that Mr. Cui was still as moving as a mountain, they were relieved. The sky fell and there was a big man holding him over. What's there to be afraid of?
The two of them said goodbye and left. Mr. Cui looked at their backs and sneered secretly!
Two stupid pigs knew that they would run to the emperor and scream. Just your Taoist practice, let alone Wang Ning'an, even those few husbands could not hide it. No wonder they joined forces and knocked you out of nothing left.
Mr. Cui was helpless, but there was no way. The Cui family had been lurking for too long. Although they saved their lives and huge financial resources, there were too few people available on the table.
Moreover, since the founding of the Song Dynasty, poor families have risen in all respects, and gentry replaced the original aristocratic family. Several of their husbands have been voting for three generations, almost all of them are poor gentry. They are not from the same family as the aristocratic family, and Mr. Cui dare not make friends rashly.
In fact, Wang Ning'an and other generals are more intimate with their Cui family.
But before we could get involved, we started the war first.
Mr. Cui admired Wang Ning'an's talent very much, but he did not agree with one thing. As a noble family, he naturally confronted the imperial power. There was a thousand-year-old family but no thousand-year-old court.
Wang Ning'an, Wang Ning'an, if you are a smart person, you shouldn't be angry with the emperor!
Mr. Cui's face gradually became solemn, and a strong murderous aura enveloped his eyebrows. Wang Ning'an, if you don't know what to do, don't blame me for being rude.
...
The salt prices in Luoyang have been successfully suppressed, but the storms in the northwest have not ended. On the contrary, with Luoyang as the center, salt crises have occurred in more and more places.
Yan'an Prefecture, Jingzhao Prefecture, Huazhou, Qingzhou, Jinzhou, including Qinzhou before, and more counties, like magic, the salt disappeared out of thin air.
It is not accurate to say that the disappearance is that the salt merchant’s shop is still open, but there is not enough salt storage. He has to open the door late and close it early. People who buy salt every day line up in a large line.
People have a problem: chasing the rise and selling the fall. When the salt becomes less and less, the people buy it wildly. What follows is that the salt price soars. Once it hits around 15 min. The salt price quickly breaks through 20 min. Then it breaks through 25 min. It is just around the corner.
The entire northwest land showed the same situation.
"Finally made a move!"
Wang Ning'an was paying close attention to the salt price. He handed over many things to Bao Zheng and Guangguang. It was not that he was lazy, but that Wang Ning'an knew that the water in the northwest was very deep! The forces here were mixed and deeply rooted.
Since the Zhou Dynasty, the former place of the Three Qins was the place where the Han family was Longxing. Throughout the dynasties, the northwest regarded the northwest as the fundamental place. Until the Song Dynasty established its country and established its capital Kaifeng, the northwest gradually declined, but it took three thousand nails to break the ship. Moreover, Wang Ning'an always had a doubt, why did Li Yuanhao quickly establish a country in the northwest and why did he defeat the Song Dynasty? Is this all that simple and ordinary?
It’s not that Wang Ning’an likes conspiracy theories, but that he is in the situation and has to think about it more.
What I fear most is that the enemy pretends to be dead, and will never be able to see clearly, and I cannot take action. As long as I dare to fight and bubbling, who have I, Wang Ning'an, have not crawled before!
"Go and tell Lord Bao that salt sales sites will be set up everywhere, each city will have 3,000 stones of green salt and 500 stones of county towns. Let Sima Guang negotiate with Xixia as soon as possible, and the salt will not be cut off!"
Someone hurriedly ordered that the two huge machines were running at high speed, and the power behind Wang Ning'an was like an octopus, pulling his tentacles deep into the northwest.
Gradually, he finally found clues and sat alone in the study room, holding a note in his hand and rubbing it repeatedly, and the note was about to break.
The Cui family is actually the Cui family!
Didn’t it mean that they had been killed by Huang Chao long ago?
Why did it appear again?
It's really a ghost!
The Northwest is really interesting. You can still touch a thousand-year-old antique. Should you be happy or cry?
Chapter completed!