Two days later.
After internal discussions among the three divisions, with the approval of Zhongshu, a note about tea was officially sent to the palace.
"Brother Six, take a look at this letter."
In Baoci Hall, Liu E handed Li Jie the zhazi just sent by Sansi.
Since that day when they harvested rice together, the relationship between Li Jie and Liu E has greatly eased.
In the past, Liu E, even if she would send Zhazi to Funing Hall, she would not read Zhazi with Li Jie, and she would also teach Li Jie how to handle political affairs while watching.
Although Li Jie didn't need her to teach him, he could feel her affection.
Liu E sent him kindness, and Li Jie naturally would not ignore it.
Nothing in this world remains the same.
Enemies can become friends, and friends can become enemies.
Moreover, he and Liu E cannot be regarded as enemies. Before Li Jie's "awakening", or before Zhen Zong ascended to immortality, the relationship between the two had always been good.
Now, the two of them are just back to the past.
After a while, Liu E asked softly as Li Jie put down his clothes.
"What do Sixth Brother think of the zhazi presented by the Third Division?"
"Zhang Dexiang is a talented person."
This sentence was Li Jie's heartfelt sigh. As soon as he saw Zhang Dexiang's shooting method, Li Jie immediately thought of the tobacco monopoly system of later generations.
However, although the two concepts are similar, the details are quite different.
Compared with the original tea method, the sticking method greatly reduced the burden on the court.
Instead of the imperial court monopolizing purchases and sales, merchants purchased business licenses from the imperial court, allowing merchants to purchase tea directly from growers.
This is definitely a pioneering work.
Without intermediate links, officials only need to supervise the transactions between tea merchants and growers, as well as the process of tea merchants selling tea.
"So, Sixth Brother agrees with the sticking method?"
Liu E was not very satisfied with the official's answer.
It's too short.
She also wanted to listen carefully to the officials' views.
"It is indeed a good idea."
Li Jie nodded and explained.
“The original cross-citation method has many drawbacks.”
"First of all, the imperial court needs to pay a tea capital to cover the upfront expenses of the growers. Although the tea capital is not much in isolation, the total amount of six batches of goods and thirteen fields is not small."
"Secondly, selling good tea and inferior tea together also solves the original disadvantages of the sticking method."
Hearing this, Liu E couldn't help but show a look of satisfaction in her eyes.
Before the imperial edict's family came, Liu E had done some homework.
Before that, she only knew that the sticking technique was practiced during the Taizong period, but she didn't know the specific content.
Judging from the official's tone, it was obvious that he knew about it and had studied it carefully. Otherwise, he would not have made such remarks.
Now, after taking off some things, Liu E's attitude towards Li Jie has changed dramatically.
Liu E was deeply touched by the collaborative work that day.
Now, her pursuit of power is no longer as urgent as before.
Later, Li Jie carefully analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of the old and new tea methods, and finally commented.
"Overall, there has been improvement in the placement method, but there is still room for improvement."
"oh?"
Liu E was surprised and said, "Sixth brother, what's the best plan?"
Li Jie did not directly answer Liu E's question, but asked a rhetorical question.
"Madam, if you were a tea merchant and I was a grower, would you lower the price when purchasing tea from the tea grower?"
"How could I lower the price?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Liu E immediately came back to her senses and understood what Li Jie meant.
Such situations are indeed possible.
Who are the people who grow tea?
Who are the tea sellers?
The former is from a small family, while the latter is from a high family. No matter in terms of power or status, the two parties are not equal.
When she was young, Liu E briefly performed as an entertainer and was well aware of the faces of those wealthy families.
Big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimps, that is inevitable.
Even if the court sets a price, those powerful households will find ways to lower the price.
"What do you mean by Brother Yiliu?"
After a while, Liu E looked at Li Jie with interest. She turned to see what Sixth Brother had to say.
"Actually, the solution is not difficult."
Li Jie smiled slightly: "The common people cannot compete with the rich and powerful, but it will be completely different if the subject changes."
"Take Huoshan Market in Shouzhou as an example. Last year, the imperial court purchased 532,390 kilograms of tea at Huoshan Market, with a profit of 35,595 kilograms and 489 kilograms."
Liu E was even more surprised when she heard that the officials knew all the data about Huoshan Field.
Regardless of whether the official's next suggestion is good or not, this attitude is already extremely thoughtful.
"The year before last was..."
Immediately afterwards, Li Jie reported a series of data, repeating all the data of Huoshan Field within five years.
"In summary, the average income of Huoshan Farm in the past five years is about 32,000 yuan. Based on past data, the annual growth rate is about one-tenth."
"And this data comes even as tea laws are increasingly declining."
"Imagine if the imperial court auctions the management rights of Huoshan tea market for thirty-two thousand guan, Madam, if you were a tea merchant, would you be willing to accept it?"
The solution given by Li Jie is very simple: replace the current unified purchasing and marketing system with the contracting system that will become popular in later generations.
Hearing this, Liu E fell into deep thought.
Will the tea merchant be willing?
Should, no, definitely!
The tea garden in Huoshanchang covers a large area. Last year, it produced more than 500,000 kilograms of tea, which is not the peak figure in history.
On the contrary, the output of Huoshan Tea Farm has been slowly shrinking in recent years. Not only Huoshan Tea Farm, but also the tea production of other tea farms is also decreasing.
The reason for the decrease in yield is nothing more than the failure of the tea method.
If a large tea merchant takes over the tea farm, in order to pursue higher profits, the tea merchant will definitely expand its tea production capacity.
After all, at a fixed cost, the more tea produced each year, the higher the profit will be.
"Then what?"
After thinking for a long time, Liu E asked.
"The next steps are roughly similar to what San Siti did."
Seeing that Liu E understood, Li Jie couldn't help but nodded secretly and continued.
"In addition to collecting tea rent, the imperial court also had to control the outflow of tea leaves. Tea farm contractors had to sell tea in areas designated by the imperial court."
】
"In addition, you need to pay an additional tea tax to the court, which can be collected according to the tithe. (That is, the tax rate is 10%)"
"Of course, considering that tea is one of the necessities in people's lives, tea merchants must sell medium and low-grade tea at the price specified by the court."
Upon hearing that there were tea rents, tea taxes, and price limits, Liu E immediately felt that these measures were a little excessive.
"Brother Six, you are asking for tea rent, tea tax, and price limit. Will those tea merchants be willing?"
"They will."
Li Jie is not worried at all that these measures will dampen the enthusiasm of tea merchants. The profits of mid- to low-end products are already limited.
In other words, making money from rich people is the way to go.
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