Old Man Xia's eyes were deep, and his index finger resting on the table moved involuntarily.
Since the "military merit system" was finalized at the beginning of the founding of the country, there has been a wave of pragmatism in the Wu Dynasty.
If one is not pragmatic but pragmatic, the authenticity of military achievements cannot be guaranteed.
False military achievements will make the people feel guilty.
If the people have a guilty conscience, the country will be in chaos.
The tighter the military merit system tied the Wu Dynasty, the more pragmatic the trend became... In the six countries of Kyushu, except for Wu, all countries have noble civil servants. As long as they study to raise their hopes and cultivate party members, they can ride the wind in one day. He stood up, ascended the palace platform and went to the court, and thus surpassed tens of millions of people in one step, becoming an official below dozens of people and above tens of millions.
But this method was not feasible in the Wu Dynasty. It was difficult to enter the six departments without visiting the county government, it was difficult to leave the court without visiting the mansion, and it was difficult to become a minister without thinking about people's livelihood.
Without a satisfactory life resume, it would be difficult for officials of the Wu Dynasty to obtain the qualifications for Lingxuan, let alone first-time actual officials.
Officials of third rank and above in various countries are only high-ranking officials, but there were "big bosses" in the Wu Dynasty.
What is a boss?
The pillars of the country, the core of the government, the role models of officials, and the backers of the people are not only seniority and seniority, but also must have tangible merits.
He, Xia Dachuan, started from the eighth-level local taxation category. He successively served as the county chief clerk, the government tax director, and the county secretary warehouse to join the army. It took him more than ten years before he was able to join the central household department, and later he was transferred to the warehouse department, Duzhi, etc. After exhausting his efforts, he lost the title of Minister of Household Affairs.
After going through all these procedures, Xia Dachuan was just a minister at best.
He can be called a big boss and the "strategic prime minister of the Wu Dynasty" all because of his contribution to promoting the reform of tax laws and increasing tax revenue for more than ten years. Even though his official rank has not risen a step in more than ten years, his weight has increased dramatically along with his merits. , lifted himself into the ranks of Wu Dynasty bosses.
Seventy years of life and fifty years of official career. He, Xia Dachuan, had been managing taxes for almost thirty years. How could he not know what was the biggest tax problem of the Wu Dynasty?
Settlement!
In a wealthy place, taxes are paid directly with money, and it is difficult to control the price. For every ten taels of silver collected, the real value is only seven or eight taels.
In a poverty-stricken place, direct taxes are imposed on people, fires harm the people, and there are thousands of controls. After the grain and grass are harvested, most of them have to be consumed on the transportation road. A stone of rice leaves the county, and when it is put into the warehouse, there are still seven rice left. Eight buckets are considered good, but most of the time there are only five or six buckets.
Looking at the entire Wu Dynasty, the Wu Dynasty received at least seven to eight hundred thousand taels in grain tax alone every year.
Heavy taxes such as city gate tax, commercial tax, and salt tax have more hidden tricks, and even those who are not greedy cannot collect them all.
As for greed?
Which country can govern it?
The rat guards the rice warehouse, and it is illegal but reasonable to start from top to bottom. If he really encounters a situation where he is not greedy and does not occupy, and the tax items are all correct, he needs to worry about this, whether the grassroots tax collectors have done something harmful to the people behind the back of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Things.
"Settlement is indeed a big problem!"
"There are too many loopholes in the process of exchanging things for things. There is still a loss in tax collection. Many businessmen are unjust and their eyes are blinded by their own interests. If something goes wrong, I will have to pay for it in the end!"
Old Man Xia let out a long sigh, "This settlement matter is the most important thing, but I'm afraid it's a little inappropriate to give money directly!"
Taxation has been exploited, and after the household market is opened, there will only be more loopholes.
People are greedy and there are many smart people in the world when there is profit.
Hearing this, Huang An agreed, "It is a fact that the grassland is short of money, but giving money directly would be detrimental to the national integrity. Not to mention that we can't accept it, even if we can accept it, the border guards will feel humiliated by it!"
Supreme military merit and high honor!
It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality.
The people of the Song Dynasty had been lying on the ground for a long time. For the Song Dynasty to come to the court, the coins given this year were less than in previous years, which was a great achievement.
As for not giving it, that is completely unimaginable.
But Wu Chao couldn't do it. Even if there were all kinds of reasons and ideas, not a penny of the money belonging to Wu Chao could be given away in vain.
"I didn't say give it directly!"
Fang Fang spread his hands, "There are few ways to make money in this world and many ways to give money, but there are also ways to control both!"
As he spoke, Fang Fang put his fingers into the teacup, dipped some tea soup, and wrote the word "futures" on the table.
"The way of war is unpredictable. Time can be exchanged for space, and space can be exchanged for time!"
“This is not the way to do business!”
"Public paid lending is a drama of exchanging space for time. Space is the space of people's expectations. This absorption comes from the stable repayment ability in the future. For the same loan, whether the lender borrows or not depends purely on the borrower's future. !”
"It works point-to-point, but it can also be done face-to-face!"
“And this is futures!”
"Futures correspond to spot goods. Spot goods happen all the time. As long as merchants have real goods, they can be traded. Futures are not so much about trading goods as they are about trading in the future. Trading is a gamble in time!"
"Everyone knows that rice is cheap in good years and rich in bad years!"
"Today is a good year, and war is coming. The price of rice in Kyushu will inevitably fluctuate in the next two or three years. If I take the price of rice in Lai Nianzhou as my handicap and rely on the reputation of the Wu Dynasty as my backing, can I bet on this handicap?"
"I can bet!"
Huang An shook his head, "But there's no need to gamble, because in years of war, rice prices will inevitably rise?"
"Why is it rising?"
"Rising to the hearts of the people!"
"But can he really rise?"
Fang Fang looked indifferent and said leisurely, "The work-for-relief strategy has been announced. Everyone knows that in the coming year, at least 160,000 acres of fertile land will be opened in the northern part of Qingzhou, and there will not be a few in the southeast of Jizhou. Even if only one season of grain is grown, , based on the harvest of two dan per mu, it can be increased by at least 600,000 dan, plus Jiaozhou rice, can we bet that the price of rice in the Wu Dynasty will not rise but fall in the coming year?"
"..."
After all the words were said by Fang Fang, what else could Huang An say?
Everything has three sides, good, bad and mean.
The news is unequal and everything is uncertain, so the judgments produced are naturally unequal. Those who have confidence in the Wu Dynasty, even if they believe that war is coming, the price of rice will inevitably rise, but the increase will not be too large.
"Whether it rises or falls depends on people's hearts and time. If everything is not determined, there will be room for expansion. This is the method of exchanging space for time!"
"Rice, flour, grain and oil are related to people's livelihood. In turn, gambling is suspected of being frivolous. In addition, the rules system has not yet been determined. After implementation, there will be many mistakes and omissions, which will be harmful to the Wu Dynasty!"
"So we can find a place to experiment!"
“And Toichi is the best place!”
"As for what to bet on?"
"In spring and summer, cattle and sheep are producing and milk is plentiful. We can scalp cattle and provide milk powder. The price of milk will be effective in April and May!"
"In summer and autumn, cattle and sheep gain weight and sheep need to shed their hair. We can bet on the price of meat and wool, and there will be results in autumn and winter!"
"This is all about fast in and fast out. It can be as short as March or April, or as long as April or May. Do you think anyone will bet on it?"
Gambling is a morbid nature of human beings.
Everything in life is a gamble, and it all depends on how to guide it. Positive guidance will benefit the country and the people, while negative guidance will hurt the people and destroy money.
As a financial instrument, futures carry huge risks, but if you just use it as a platform, there will be no problem.
