Bao Ci Hall.
"Is the official leaving the palace?"
Liu E couldn't help but be curious after hearing this from Xu.
Sixth brother actually left the imperial city quietly?
Are you going to investigate public sentiment?
In fact, Liu E did get part of the guess right. Li Jiejie's palace did have the intention to examine public opinion, but it was only superficial on paper.
Although there is a large amount of literature in his memory, historical books are only the carrier of records. Whether they are true or false, and whether there are any errors or omissions, they still need to be corrected by themselves.
State Bridge.
Not long after, Zhang Maoze boarded the carriage with a bowl of hot mafu.
"How much does this bowl cost?"
Hearing this question, Zhang Mao was stunned for a moment, and then quickly replied.
"Fifteen cents a bowl."
Fifteen cents a bowl?
Not cheap.
After learning the exact number, Li Jie suddenly had this idea in his mind.
Seeing Li Jie's expression, Zhang Maoze didn't know for a moment whether the official thought it was cheap or expensive.
Maybe it feels cheap.
After all, the money that officials come into contact with on a daily basis is tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is really very small to the precise figures of Wen.
“Are many people buying it?”
Li Jie took the mafu presented by Zhang Maoze and took a sip.
As expected of being made from sesame seeds, this stuff is indeed very fragrant, and it also tastes faintly sweet.
Sugar is an important source of energy for humans. Sugar is often accompanied by delicious food, but obtaining sugar is never easy.
From the earliest honey, to maltose, to sucrose, although there are more and more ways to obtain sugar, sugar is still a luxury product in agricultural civilization.
Therefore, a bowl of mafu sold for 15 yuan is not too outrageous, because apart from sugar, sesame seeds are not cheap either.
"a lot of."
Although he didn't understand why the official asked this, Zhang Maoze still answered truthfully.
"Who are the people buying?"
"What are the characteristics?"
Are the officials testing me?
After hearing these two questions, Zhang Mao couldn't help but have an idea.
Fortunately, Zhang Maoze has a very good memory. In fact, if he had not had a good enough memory, he would not have been picked by Lei Yungong.
"Mainly scholars and followers of aristocratic families."
Zhang Maoze remembers it clearly because these two types of people are easy to identify. Scholars generally wear Confucian shirts, with only a few styles, and most of them have wide sleeves.
The servants are mostly dressed in narrow-sleeved clothes. The tops are usually jackets (short clothes), and the bottoms are basically trousers.
Dressing up like this is mainly to facilitate movement.
After all, a servant's job is to serve the master's family. If the clothes are too loose, it will not be efficient in doing things.
Because the characteristics were obvious, Zhang Mao counted the customer categories with just a brief recall.
"Um."
Hearing this, Li Jie nodded slightly, and then he changed the subject instead of continuing to ask.
"This stuff tastes good. Remember to bring a copy to the eldest lady when you return to the palace."
Zhang Mao's answer was similar to what Li Jie expected. The price of a bowl of fifteen cents was indeed too expensive for ordinary people.
Of course, Zhang Mao should buy the one with the best taste. If a bowl of mafu costs fifteen cents, I'm afraid this thing won't become popular.
Just like the roast duck of later generations, there are many for more than ten yuan, dozens of yuan, and hundreds of yuan.
Immediately afterwards, Li Jie inspected the prices of daily necessities such as tea, rice, oil, and salt.
The final results were mixed.
There have been no major disasters in recent years, and the price of rice is not high, although it has increased due to the war.
But 40 Wen can still buy a bucket of rice, that is, one stone of rice costs about 400 Wen. When converted, one kilogram of rice is about 3-4 Wen.
The price of oil has not fluctuated much, it is still about 30 yuan per pound.
There was no distinction between cooking oil and lamp oil in the Song Dynasty. They were both vegetable oils.
At the current oil price level, if a scholar reads at night, he will spend an average of about 5 yuan per day.
For ordinary people, the cost of cooking is roughly the same.
The price of firewood has not fluctuated at all. Among the four types of firewood, rice, oil and salt, only the price of salt has increased significantly.
Today, the price of a pound of salt is as high as 44 Wen, which has reached the warning line set by the court.
(ps: The Song Dynasty had clear regulations on the selling price of salt. According to different salt products, different time nodes, and different regions, there are different regulations, which are relatively complicated. Stars directly take 44 articles.)
Before the war with Xixia, the green and white salt transported from Xixia to the capital was only about 20 to 30 yuan per catty.
Although the price is not cheap, the quality of summer salt is better. Even if the price is slightly higher than that of solution salt, the people in Bianliang City will still buy green and white salt.
However, now that the imperial court has issued a ban, the salt from Xixia cannot be imported, and the border areas are quite turbulent. Therefore, the price of salt has soared.
In less than half a year, the price has nearly doubled.
For the people at the bottom whose daily income is only tens of yuan, the price of salt is indeed too high.
The price of salt must be brought down!
Of course, Li Jie has a mature sea salt production process. Even with the current productivity level, sea salt production efficiency can be doubled.
But the current predicament is not entirely due to the inability to keep up with productivity.
Rather, it is more a matter of institutional reasons.
From the Song Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, salt was one of the important forbidden commodities.
Nowadays, the salt method of the imperial dynasty is mainly based on entering the middle and making compromises, supplemented by folding and exchanging.
In both the import and export transactions, merchants purchased grain and then transferred it to border areas or military activity areas, and finally settled with salt banknotes.
The difference between the two is that the entry into the middle is completely equivalent to salt banknotes, while the compromise is to give part of the money or part of the tea and salt.
As for Zhebo, merchants use cash or millet, silk and other materials to purchase tea, salt and other items directly from the government according to the price.
The current Ganyan system is roughly similar to the Gancha system, and both have drawbacks such as circumvention and overestimation.
At the same time, production monopoly and official purchasing and marketing strategies are not only inefficient, but also cause serious corruption problems.
For the government, prohibited commodities such as salt and tea are tools and means for the government to exploit the people.
However, a hierarchical management system will inevitably bring about a large and bloated management organization, and these are the root causes of the problem.
If the country is compared to a company, there is no doubt that the Song Dynasty also had the common problems of large companies.
Huge administrative expenses and serious corruption problems have directly led to inflated salt prices.
Therefore, if you want to reduce salt prices to normal levels, simply expanding production capacity and increasing supply is useless, or the effect is not obvious.
Only by changing the source, that is, the prohibition system, can the price of salt be reduced.
How to change?
History has already given the answer. Following the laws of economics and introducing market means, officials cannot be both referees and athletes.
What is in the market belongs to the market, and what is official belongs to the official.
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Happy New Year to everyone, don’t be a Yang person, it’s really uncomfortable to be Yang
