At Chen time in the morning, Zhao Jun did not enter the palace today.
It is already December 28th of the new year, and the Chinese New Year will be celebrated in two days, and the entire court has entered a state of rest.
The holidays in the Song Dynasty were very long, starting from the winter solstice until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of the following year. The intermittent holidays lasted for a month, with only about ten days of working time in between.
The reason is that the father of Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin died on the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month. After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, it was stipulated that there would be a three-day holiday around the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, which became a practice.
During the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty, because his mother's birthday fell on the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the court stipulated another three days of holiday, which was equivalent to one death anniversary plus one birthday and one more golden week. Starting from the beginning of December, there would be a seven-day holiday.
However, this is not over yet. Before these two holidays, there is the Winter Solstice, and the court stipulates a seven-day holiday. The winter solstice plus these two holidays will lead to the Chinese New Year in a few days, which lasts until the third day of the first lunar month.
The problem is that during the Song Zhenzong period, it was said that a heavenly book had descended to the human world, so an edict was issued to designate the third day of the first lunar month as the Tianqing Festival, and officials could take an extra five days off.
This holiday will last until the Lantern Festival. In the Song Dynasty, the Lantern Festival was also considered a part of the Spring Festival, and there was also a seven-day holiday.
That is to say, from the winter solstice at the end of November to the fifteenth day of the first month of the next year, in less than two months, the Song Dynasty’s Spring Festival holiday at the end of the year lasted for thirty-three days, and the rest time was very long.
We are currently on Spring Festival vacation. Counting Tianqing Day, we will not go to work until the ninth day of the first lunar month.
Therefore, only one prime minister is on duty in the Constitutional Yuan every day. The same goes for each department. The minister and the left and right ministers take turns to handle emergencies. The rest of the time, everyone goes home to celebrate the New Year.
For a time, the entire court became empty, and all Bianliang government agencies showed a state of silence and suspension.
Zhao Jun's carriage drove slowly to the residence of Li Shen, the new Minister of Industry and Commerce.
Li Zhen personally greeted him outside the door.
There were more than a dozen businessmen who came with him, including the big tea merchant Tian Chang, the big salt merchant Kang Xi, the big grain merchant Meng Chengqi, etc. They were all top businessmen in all walks of life in Bianliang.
Among them, Tian Chang is actually from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. His main business is not only in Bianliang, but also has branches of his Tian's Tea Shop in various places.
According to usual practice, Tian Chang had already returned to Jiangsu and Zhejiang with this year's payment. After the Chinese New Year, he was ready to start collecting spring tea there for the coming year.
But now he has been staying in Bianliang because of the earthquake in the tea market in Bianliang, so he had to stay here. The eldest son in Jiangsu and Zhejiang could only let his eldest son handle it, and he personally handled the tea business in Bianliang.
I sent spring tea to Bianliang in May and haven't gone back for half a year now.
Zhao Jun's carriage stopped outside Li Shen's mansion. Li Shen's complexion was much better. He was only fifty-five years old. In history, grass has grown on the graves now. Fortunately, amoxicillin is still quite powerful. Two pills are enough. , the medicine can cure the disease.
Seeing Zhao Jun get off the carriage, Li Zhen went up to greet him, cupped his hands and said, "I've seen Zhiyuan."
"I've met Zhiyuan!"
"Prime Minister Li, be polite, everyone be polite!"
Zhao Jun also bowed his hand in return, and then said: "I took the liberty of disturbing you today."
Li Zhen was saved by Zhao Jun, and he was very respectful to him. He said with a smile: "It's a great honor for the magistrate to come to my humble residence. Why bother? Please come in quickly."
Everyone surrounded Zhao Jun and went in.
As the former deputy privy envoy, Li Shen's previous salary could reach more than 20,000 yuan a year, and he was born in the Li family of Xinyu, after Li Xuan, Duke of Zhao of the Tang Dynasty. His family was well off. Although his residence was in the outer city, it was because of it that Spacious and luxurious.
Entering the mansion, there is a large vestibule with thick bushes, various rare flowers and plants, and towering trees in the courtyard. The main hall is grand and grand, with arched corridors on both sides.
However, Li Shen did not take them to the main hall, but took them directly to the backyard from the corridor at the side door. This was a more grand way of entertaining guests.
Normally, the main hall is more formal when entertaining guests. When leading the guest to the back hall, he said that the guest had a distinguished status, and even the more private backyard was open to the guest. This shows that Li Shen still respected Zhao Jun very much.
The group of people arrived under an old ginkgo tree in the backyard. This big branch was lush with leaves. Although it was already late winter, the leaves were golden and fell all over the ground. There was still a small half left on the tree. When the wind blew, it whirled. Sound.
There is a pavilion next to the big tree. Not far away, there is no ice on the pond surface, and there are red carps swimming in it. Occasionally, they pop their heads out of the water, causing ripples on the surface of the pond.
The courtyards of these wealthy and powerful families are indeed luxurious, with all kinds of pavilions, carved beams and painted buildings.
Although it was winter, there were still many evergreen plants growing, and the servants in the mansion shoveled and cleaned the snow, so it didn't look like there was only a white patch of snow.
Li Zhen led everyone past the old ginkgo tree and into the main hall of the backyard.
The decoration of the main hall is different from that of the front hall. There is a square corner table facing the door. There are two Taishi chairs on the left and right sides of the table. Then there are rows of chairs on both sides below these two chairs, with more than ten seats.
Obviously this position was carefully designed, otherwise even though Li Shen was the master, it would be inappropriate for Zhao Jun, his boss and savior, to sit below him.
"Come on, Zhiyuan, please take a seat!"
Li Zhen extended his hand to invite Zhao Jun into the hall. Zhao Jun was not polite and replied "please" and then walked into the hall together.
Then the two of them took their seats on the left and right, and then Li Shen asked many businessmen to sit according to their positions.
Among them, Tian Chang and Kang Xi sit at the lower left and right positions. One of them is the largest tea merchant in Bianliang, and the other is the largest salt merchant in Bianliang. They are both wealthy.
Meng Chengqi sat in the second seat to Zhao Jun's left hand.
His family is actually not that wealthy.
In terms of status among grain merchants, the Meng family's total assets are only four to five million yuan, ranking them only in the second and third tiers. They cannot be considered the top grain merchants at all.
But I couldn't stand it. Meng Chengqi was a related household.
He and Zhao Jun had known each other before. Zhao Jun thought this man was quite interesting, and he was also sensible and obedient. He managed a printing shop in which he did not have any shares in order, and the editorial department also relied on Meng Chengqi's help.
Therefore, when there is a need for a grain merchant, there is nothing wrong with grabbing him. After all, it's better to find someone who knows the details than to find strangers who don't know the details.
The rest of them are also among the largest merchants of tea, salt, grain, oil and other biological necessities in Bianliang. The worst ones here have a net worth of more than 4 to 50 million yuan.
It can be said that if all the people's properties here were confiscated, it would be estimated that the government's fiscal revenue would be tens of millions.
Everyone sat down one after another.
Then the servants of the Li Mansion served tea, which was all the best tea. The aroma of tea suddenly filled the whole room.
There was originally incense charcoal in this house, using charcoal basins, stoves, etc. to keep the indoor temperature at a certain level. The incense burner also gave out curls of green smoke. When the tea was brewed, the aroma of tea was mixed with the smell of spices, making the room smell better. More immersed in the heart and spleen.
After the servant served tea, he walked out backwards and closed the door to prevent the cold wind from outside from blowing in.
It was only then that Li Zhen looked around and said, "Everyone, I think everyone already knows the purpose of inviting you here today."
He continued: "The imperial court has discussed many shortcomings in sales. Officials in various tea, salt, rice, oil, iron, etc. stores are either overstaffed and have no place to eat, or they are corrupt and corrupt. As a result, the products are of low quality and the people are not willing to do so. Purchase, so it is imperative for the court to discuss the sale reform."
As he spoke, Li Zhen picked up the teacup in his hand, squinted his eyes and scanned the scene, pretending to drink tea while actually watching everyone's reactions.
As he expected, many businessmen present looked happy.
After all, there are thresholds for the sale of these daily necessities. Tea has tea citations, and salt has salt banknotes. Although the Kaizhong Law has not yet included salt, it will take until the eighth year of Qingli, when Fan Xiang, a member of the Ministry of War, modified the Salt Law and included salt. , the salt money policy was started.
But at that time, salt was strictly for sale by the government, and private individuals were not allowed to own salt. They could only be lower-level dealers of the government. They could only sell whatever salt the government gave them.
In this way, not only does most of the profits go to the government, but it is also difficult to ensure quality, and it must be processed later.
The quality of private salt can be guaranteed, but the government will catch it.
So as long as it comes to negotiating and selling, they, ordinary big businessmen without big officials as backers, are no match for those high-ranking officials who are already involved in it.
If the imperial court could open up the sale of tea and salt so that they could get tea and salt without any barriers, then the business situation would definitely be much better.
Therefore, everyone was naturally happy to hear that the imperial court was open to discussion and sale.
Seeing everyone's reaction, Li Shen felt confident. He glanced at Zhao Jun and when he nodded, he said: "You are all famous big businessmen in Bianliang. I want to hear your thoughts today. What do you think?"
Tian Chang said quickly: "This is naturally a good thing. The officials and court officials are wise, and the magistrate and Prime Minister Li have reformed the system, which will naturally benefit the merchants and people all over the world."
"Yes, if the negotiation and sale are cancelled, everyone will be able to make good tea and good salt with their heart. It will not be like before, where the quality on the market varies, which in turn harms the people. This move by Prime Minister Li is really beneficial to the country and the people. .”
"Under the leadership of the officials and the prefect, after the restructuring, the products on the market will definitely become better and the prices will be cheaper. This is indeed a good thing for the country and the people."
Everyone opened their mouths to the officials and their families, but shut their mouths to the common people and the country, and they all gave themselves up to flattery. Under the quota system, although they can drink soup, they can only drink soup.
In fact, it is not the country that makes the big profit, but the officials who are in charge of sales.
As a state-owned monopoly, they have no motivation to improve technology and increase product quality, because people have to buy from them no matter what, so why waste so much energy?
As a result, the officials in charge of sales were overstaffed and even sold government-owned products to merchants privately, or stole them and sold them themselves.
In addition, many officials have family business power behind them, such as Ma Jiliang, who is waiting to be controlled by Longtuge, Hu Ze, the imperial censor, Wang Yanhou, etc.
If we were to talk about the list of officials doing business, it would probably take three days and three nights to finish it.
Because not only central officials, but also local officials are also engaged in business.
Even the prime ministers Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng, Wang Sui, Cai Qi, Song Shou, Sheng Du, and even Yan Shu built private houses and rented them out to make huge profits, and were impeached by Cai Xiang.
It is no wonder that Su Xun was deeply moved by this in "Jiayou Ji", "The officials and merchants were fortunate enough not to be punished, and they were not taxed. If you use the county magistrate's boat, you won't be ridiculed for defense, and you won't be irritated by the river beams. However, if you do business for officials, it will be sincere and enjoyable."
So in a sense, corruption in the Song Dynasty was indeed relatively low, because not only did people have high wages, but they also did not need to rely on corruption to get rich. They used the power in their hands to make money by themselves.
It is equivalent to a certain Western politician in later generations having the power to approve projects, and then the projects are copied for his family.
This resulted in the fact that business in the Song Dynasty was indeed prosperous, but there were no top merchants like the salt merchants in the Ming Dynasty who were worth tens or even hundreds of millions of taels of silver. If private businessmen are completely suppressed by these official businessmen, there will be no emergence of capitalism, not even a sprout.
"alright."
After hearing the praise from everyone, Zhao Jun finally said slowly.
Seeing him talking, everyone quickly shut their mouths, not even daring to drink tea, and looked at Zhao Jun helplessly.
These big businessmen with a net worth of millions of dollars appear to be five to six people in front of ordinary people, but in front of the real people in power, they are actually nothing.
Any high-ranking official can make them bankrupt or even destroy their families easily.
So everyone treats it with caution.
Zhao Jun looked around and said in a deep voice: "The official sales system really needs to be changed. The imperial court didn't get many benefits, and they were all taken away by those officials. There are many problems in the three departments, and the Imperial City Department should also Investigate these people, arrest those who should be arrested, ransack the homes of those who should be, and kill a group of people. We must not tolerate it."
There was a murderous aura in his words, and everyone's necks could not help but shrink, and they were so frightened that they could not move.
You must know that these Emperor City Secretary beheaded countless people. Some time ago, they took turns taking people to the outskirts of Dongcheng to behead their heads every day. The grass was dyed red. Although they knew that Zhao Jun was a reasonable person, they were afraid that they would offend the other party and have his house ransacked. Genocide.
After Zhao Jun finished speaking, he looked at everyone and continued: "But it is not enough to completely open up the sale. The imperial court encourages market competition and encourages everyone to study technology, improve product quality, and bring better products to the people. But tea , salt, oil, grain and other items are necessities of life and the lifeblood of the country, and cannot be completely left to the disposal of merchants."
"Why is this?"
Li Zhen, who was standing next to him, knew that the businessmen below did not dare to challenge him, so he asked cooperatively.
"Because merchants are very profitable!"
Zhao Jun turned around and said: "If there is one-tenth of the profit, the businessman will be able to operate; if there is one-fifth of the profit, the businessman will be active; if there is one-half of the profit, the businessman will take risks; for double the profit , businessmen dare to trample all human laws; with triple profits, businessmen dare to commit any crime, and even risk the death penalty."
Everyone in the audience had different expressions. Although these words were a bit derogatory to businessmen who only care about profits, the words were spoken by Zhao Jun. They did not dare to refute even if they wanted to refute them. Therefore, each of them acted with a slight guilty conscience and no dissatisfaction. Emotions.
I heard Zhao Jun continue: "Once businessmen make huge profits, it is possible to drive up prices. For example, when the drought in Huainan started the year before last, businessmen hoarded grain and once speculated it to two to three thousand yuan per stone. It is definitely not a good thing for the country, so it must be supervised and the court must be involved.”
In fact, Tian Chang had already learned from Li Shen that the imperial court wanted to price commercial stocks with them, so he was not surprised, so he said: "What the Zhiyuan said is that the villain also thinks that if it is fully open to discussion and sale, it will not It is stable and therefore willing to cooperate with the imperial court."
Meng Chengqi also knew about this, and immediately expressed his opinion for the second time: "The villain also thinks this is the best. If the officials can be involved, they can naturally supervise the businessmen not to benefit the country and the people."
Everyone was smart, so they immediately followed suit and said, "The same is true for villains."
"The villain firmly supports the decision of the magistrate."
"Don't worry, Zhiyuan. As long as Zhiyuan says a word, the villain will go through fire and water."
Everyone expressed their loyalty.
Although the government regulates it and may involve shares in it, it is much better than the previous situation where it was not only suppressed by officials and businessmen, but also had difficulties in getting tea and salt.
Everyone here can become a rich man. In addition to having business acumen, he either has embraced the official family, or has seen the power of the official family. Therefore, it is the lesser of two evils. Compared with offending the official family, making enemies with the official family. , then it is naturally more beneficial to have good relations with the officials.
Seeing that everyone was aware of the current affairs, Zhao Jun laughed and said, "Don't worry, everyone. Since you can sit here today instead of being invited to drink tea by the Imperial City Secretary, you have a reason."
As he spoke, he looked at Tian Chang and said: "Tian Chang, although you are the largest tea merchant in Bianliang, you are still a private tea merchant at most. Among those official merchants, there are many who are not weaker than you or even stronger than you, such as the Ma family and the Liu family. , Li family, etc., do you know why you are sitting here and not them?"
Tian Chang was confused and said, "I don't know."
"Because the businessmen I need must have excellent patriotic qualities and a basic moral bottom line!"
Zhao Jun looked around and said eloquently: "During the Spring and Autumn Period, when the country was in crisis, the merchant Xian Gao pretended to reward his troops for retreating from the Qin army. Zigong, a student of Confucius, heard that Qi was going to attack Lu, and he lobbied other countries to save Qi. You should also love your country, instead of only looking at profits. Such people are not worthy of being businessmen, they are just capitalists."
capitalist?
Everyone looked confused.
Someone asked: "Zhiyuan, what is a capitalist?"
"Capitalists are a group of people who only care about profits and forget the principles of human conduct!"
Zhao Jun explained: "They have forgotten all etiquette, righteousness, benevolence, wisdom, and trust. For the sake of profit, they can even sell their families. This group of people is a symbol of shame, like the grain merchants who drove up grain prices after the Huainan drought. , they are a group of capitalists, they should be hung from the city gate tower."
Everyone shuddered.
Why does this great master Qingtian of Zhiyuan always want to kill people?
And he was hanged in public display.
The murderous intention is a bit serious.
"Of course, in my opinion, businessmen are not untouchables, they are also part of the country. Therefore, the country cannot discriminate against businessmen, and should treat businessmen normally like any people in the Song Dynasty. But equally, I also hope that businessmen can Be patriotic, be honest and trustworthy, and be fair and just.”
Zhao Jun then softened his tone and said: "When the country is in crisis, businessmen should stand up to help the country. When the people are in crisis, businessmen must also take responsibility. I hope that our Song Dynasty will be like Xian Gao and Zigong. businessmen, not the capitalists who drove up prices after the drought in Huainan. In choosing you, I value your patriotic qualities."
"good."
Li Shen nodded slightly and said: "You are all carefully selected by me. For example, Tian Chang, when he entered the middle school, he underestimated the money, set up a trading company, stabilized the price of tea, and almost never raised the price of tea. At most, it was Sell at a slight premium, make money that should be earned, and make no profit from what should not be earned. This is the way to do business!"
After hearing his words, everyone felt a little better. Tian Chang and others quickly said: "Li Xiang is joking, we are just doing our duty. The people of Bianliang want tea, and we are also serving the country and the people, so we don't dare to Greedy for merit.”
"Although we businessmen value profits, we also know that the country is broken by mountains and rivers. If there is no Song Dynasty and no country of our own, it will be like floating roots, floating everywhere."
"Yes, please know that the court and Mr. Li don't worry, but if there is an assignment, we will never refuse. Even if we risk our lives, what's the matter?"
Everyone patted their chests and promised.
There are countless businessmen in Bianliang, and some of them are worth more than one million yuan. But Zhao Jun only chose these ten people because these people were considered to have a better bottom line among businessmen.
It is said that all crows in the world are black, but in fact, the ancient landlord class was not all Zhou Bapi.
According to historical records, there are many patriotic and philanthropic landowners. During times of famine, many merchant landlords would choose to sell grain at par or low prices, or even open porridge shops to provide relief to the victims.
The allusion of the food that came is actually the story of a landowner named Qian Ao who helped the victims. However, his words were too arrogant and the hungry people could not accept them, so the good deed was not implemented.
Therefore, it is not easy to find needles in the sea water, but it is easy to find some pearls in the sand. In the end, Li Zhen selected more than a dozen businessmen who were relatively conscientious.
Zhao Jun needs to support a group of businessmen, firstly, to stabilize prices and people's livelihood, and to prevent frequent fluctuations in daily necessities.
Secondly, it is also to promote the development of capitalism.
If the mining industry is semi-state-owned and semi-privatized in the future, I will not believe that these businessmen will not develop steam engines for mining.
Last but not least, businessmen's operational efficiency and ability to mobilize resources are still very advantageous compared with the current bureaucracy.
Entering China and France depends entirely on the imperial court to exert their subjective initiative through policies.
When it comes time to fight a war or provide relief to victims, these businessmen can play a much greater role than the government.
Therefore, cooperation with businessmen to carry out semi-private and semi-state ownership is also a necessary reform measure.
When other problems arise in these policies and measures in the future, they will be reformed.
(End of chapter)
