Are the businessmen making trouble again?
Zhao Zhen couldn't help but remember that in the first year of Tiansheng, when Li Shen first proposed to meet Qian Fa, the opposition from the government and the public was loud.
In addition to many officials from the imperial court writing letters one after another, tea merchants went on strike and border officials became angry, causing widespread resentment among the people. Liu E, who was still in power at the time, had to remove Li Shen to calm the anger of the government and the opposition.
That was twelve years ago. Zhao Zhen was only fifteen years old at the time. Although he didn't know the specific situation, he had already known the root cause after being in charge for several years.
It is false that the money-seeing law has caused the treasury to be empty and businessmen to be inconvenienced. It is nothing more than profit, and their interests are not satisfied.
Now let’s do this again.
Zhao Zhen's face was like water, and he was about to summon Lu Yijian, King Zeng and others to come over to discuss the matter, but after a slight hesitation, he remembered what Fan Zhongyan said to him, and said to Cao Xiu: "I know, you go first and find out the details. "
"yes."
Cao Xiu then bowed and retreated.
Then Zhao Zhen called the eunuch Wang Shouzhong, the leader of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and said to him: "Send Yan Shu over."
"yes."
Wang Shouzhong went to do it immediately.
Yan Shu was talking to Zhao Jun in the backyard at this time.
After he returned, he briefly went to the household department, explained some things, and then changed shifts with Fan Zhongyan.
The main reason is that Zhao Jun's eyes are getting better day by day and are about to recover. He must stay with Zhao Jun and stare at them for a long time to prevent accidents.
At present, Zhao Zhen, Lu Yijian and others have gradually focused on government affairs.
The tricks they should have learned from Zhao Jun have been pulled out, and they already basically know the future history, so they no longer need to listen to Zhao Jun's lectures, and it is time to return to the court to handle state affairs.
About two-quarters of an hour later, Yan Shu entered the Chongde Hall, raised his hands to Zhao Zhen and said, "Officials, what are you calling me for?"
Zhao Zhen stared at him for a while, staring at Yan Shu and feeling a little confused. He said in confusion: "Guan family, is there something on my face?"
"No."
Zhao Zhen shook his head and said softly: "There is news in the city that the merchants are planning to run on Jiaoziwu together, but now the more than 500,000 guan in Jiaozi's shop are used to purchase grain and grass, and there is still 80,000 guan left as the principal. Are you Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, how much balance does the treasury have?"
Yan Shu smiled bitterly and said: "There are still more than 30,000 strings."
"Forehead."
Zhao Zhen felt a headache.
The Song Dynasty had a year-round fiscal deficit and could not make ends meet. At the beginning of summer or just after winter, the state treasury was at its poorest.
Because the Song Dynasty continued the Tang Dynasty's two tax laws, field taxes were collected on the first day of May in the summer and on the first day of September in the autumn. The payment time was two and a half months, and the payment time was three and a half months. It also took a long time to send it to Bianliang. .
Therefore, during the period when land taxes were uniformly sent to Bianliang, the state treasury was often able to make money. Even if the tax revenue is often sent to Bianliang, it will be spent very quickly and not much will be saved.
"History of Song Dynasty: Food and Huo Zhi" records that in 1049 AD, the income reached 126 million yuan, and not a cent was left after expenditures.
Although commercial taxes are paid all year round, most of the commercial taxes are actually withheld and used locally. For example, "History of the Song Dynasty" says: "The Ministry of Households governs the world's wealth. Nowadays, tributes from all directions have not been paid for a long time." The palaces of the princes were often used by the states and counties for military purposes."
Basically, not only commercial taxes are used for military expenditures, but most of the summer and autumn taxes received from the treasury are also sent to the border gates of northwest Hebei and the Xiang Army Forbidden Army camps across the country. The remaining money will be used to pay the salaries and salaries of officials all over the world.
Once the two gold-eating beasts of redundant soldiers and redundant officials are filled up, the court will basically be out of money.
The businessmen obviously found the right opportunity, knowing that the treasury was empty at this time, and took the opportunity to attack.
Seeing that Zhao Zhen looked unhappy, Yan Shu said: "The officials don't have to worry too much. The coins deposited by Bianliang to Jiao Ziwu are only more than 500,000 yuan, and most of them are not deposited by tea merchants. The national treasury has more than 30,000 yuan." With the principal of 80,000 yuan, I should be able to pay it off."
Zhao Zhen said: "It's not just Bianliang tea merchants. Now is the time when spring tea is on the market. Sichuan tea merchants have sent tea from Chengdu Fulu to Bianliang. They learned that Bianliang opened a Jiaozi Pu, which is in Chengdu. The government has saved a large amount of money, and the Bianliang tea merchants have joined forces with them. These people are the big trouble."
"I want to know how many Jiaozi money orders these people have in their hands?"
"Some time ago, Shuzhong sent out the Cunyu report, and at the same time synchronized the Jiaozi stubs with the Bianliang Jiaoziwu. There are 1.27 million coins deposited there. If only the tea merchants are counted, and the Bianliang tea merchants are included, it is estimated that The Jiaozi money order in their hands is probably no less than 300,000 yuan."
"Three hundred thousand guan?"
Yan Shu frowned and asked: "Chengdu Prefecture already has so much money now, but the distant water cannot save the nearby fire. More than one million coins have to be transported to Bianliang. I'm afraid it won't be possible until March and May. And It will only take ten days at most to hand over the money order to Ziwu, and the imperial court seems to have to raise 300,000 guan for preparation."
"Three hundred thousand yuan is not a big deal. There is always a way to find a way. At the worst, it can be allocated from my internal funds. What I am worried about is that this is just the beginning, and there will be bigger troubles later."
Zhao Zhen pondered and said: "This year is a good time for the opening of Jiaoziwu and Jianqian. If Jiaoziwu is not opened nationwide, tea merchants across the country cannot save money in one place and then withdraw money from Bianliang. . But there are more than just tea merchants in Chengdu Prefecture. If they persuade other merchants to withdraw money together, then the reserves Bianliang needs to prepare will exceed one million yuan, and it is impossible to raise so much money in a short time."
"This is a really big problem."
Yan Shu lowered his head and thought for a while, then raised his head and asked: "Guan family, do you want to ask Zhao Jun about this matter?"
Zhao Zhen was unhappy and said: "This handover is something I only got by asking Zhao Jun. If something goes wrong, I will only look to him. So what is the use of having so many scholars in the Song Dynasty? I also hope that after his eyes are healed, , look at my Song Dynasty, look at me and my kings and ministers, it is definitely not as bad as he said."
Yan Shu smiled bitterly and said: "But if we don't ask him for help, what should the tea merchants do? I think that even if they don't unite all the merchants in Chengdu Prefecture who save money in Jiaozi Pu, they only need to buy the tea merchants in their hands." Zi, it will be difficult to hand over Zipu."
Chengdu was the first place where Jiaoziwu was established, so merchants there basically recognized each other’s monetary value. When trading, you don’t use Jiaozi to go to Jiaozi shop to withdraw money, but you use Jiaozi directly to buy and sell.
Bianliang has now recognized Jiaozi. It's hard to say for merchants on other roads, but the merchants on Chengdu Fulu will definitely admit that transactions between Jiaozi and others can be carried out.
Compared with arriving in Bianliang, first go to Bianliang Jiaozi to queue up to withdraw money, wait for a while to get the money, and then start buying goods, it is more convenient to use Jiaozi to buy and sell goods directly.
Therefore, Yan Shu believed that as long as the tea merchants who wanted to prevent the imperial court from seeing the money method were not stupid, they would definitely use this method.
By the time Bianliang Jiaoziwu was bankrupted and Qian Fa lost his source of funds, he would eventually have to miscarry. This would be another great victory for the tea merchants against the imperial policy after the one during the Tiansheng period.
Zhao Zhen thought for a moment, then raised his head and looked at Yan Shu. After looking at him for a long time, he said softly: "I heard that Duke Lu, Duke Song, Prime Minister Xia, and Prime Minister Jia have rich families?"
Yan Shu had been stared at by Zhao Zhen before. Now when he heard this sentence, he looked at Zhao Zhen in surprise, but hesitated slightly and said, "Yes."
"Fan Xiwen came to visit Prime Minister Lu and Prime Minister Song before."
Zhao Zhen changed the topic and said expressionlessly: "I would like to ask, whose side will Uncle Tong stand on?"
Yan Shu felt as if his hair was standing on end, and suddenly his heart trembled, and then he said: "I... Wherever Your Majesty is, I will be there."
"Is this what uncle Tong really says?"
Zhao Zhen asked.
"yes."
Yan Shu said seriously: "It is the duty of a minister to eat the emperor's salary and share the emperor's worries."
Zhao Zhen smiled and asked, "Don't be so nervous. I just want to ask Uncle Tong, Prime Minister Lu and others, will they really agree to depose Menyin officials?"
"Won't."
This time Yan Shu answered much faster.
He knew which side he was on.
The problem facing the Song Dynasty now is that a large number of Menyin officials occupy the court, and they form an absolute power.
Because in the entire Northern Song Dynasty, there were only more than 30,000 imperial examinations, and there were only 117 Jinshis every year on average.
During the Renzong period, only about four to five thousand people passed the imperial examination. So where did the more than 40,000 officials in the Renzong Dynasty come from?
Most of it is through Men Yin.
Fan Zhongyan wanted to depose these Menyin officials who had seven to eight tenths of the power in the court. Even if Lu Yijian agreed, the others would definitely not agree.
Zhao Zhen said calmly: "In that case, take a look at this."
As he said this, he pointed to the note beside Fan Zhongyan.
Yan Shu came over and picked up the zhazi, looked at it for a while, and said in amazement: "This..."
"Tell Prime Minister Lu about this. He may know what he will do."
After Zhao Zhen finished speaking, he thought for a moment and added: "Don't tell him that I want him to know."
Yan Shu was quite shocked, and then he immediately understood what Zhao Zhen meant, and secretly said in his heart that it is true that the king is always with you like a tiger, even if you are a benevolent king through the ages, you still have the skills of an emperor.
But he reacted quickly and immediately said, "Yes."
"Okay, you go down."
Zhao Zhen waved his hand.
"I have resigned."
Yan Shu walked backwards and left.
After he left the study, Zhao Zhen put his hands on the table and rubbed his temples.
Although meeting Qian Fa and handing over child affairs will benefit the country and the people, things will definitely not be as easy and smooth as Zhao Jun said.
For many major national affairs, it is definitely not possible to make decisions just by patting one's head on the head. Just like the Green Seeds Law, it may seem like a good policy, but its implementation directly harms the people.
Therefore, Zhao Zhen is not unprepared mentally and has the determination and perseverance to face any test.
What he didn't expect was that the merchants could think of means of resistance so quickly. Jiaoziwu had only been open for two months, and they were already planning to empty Jiaozipu through a run and force the court to give up the money-seeking method.
Although the first wave of attacks is not too severe at the beginning, if most of the tea merchants unite, it will still be enough for the court to drink a pot, and they must be guarded against.
The officials in the imperial court do have great fortunes, but just in case, they still have to think of other ways.
Well...it seems that I have to go to the queen's place.
Zhao Zhen thought to himself.
