The cooks left all their worries over the past few days to Chen Hua and left happily.
When only Xu He and the unlucky county magistrate were left in the hall, Chen Hua could no longer suppress his anger, pointed at Xu He and shouted loudly: "Xu He, Zhuzi, how dare you harm me!"
Xu He sat in the hall, picked up a white porcelain tureen, blew the foam on the teacup gently, took a sip unhurriedly, and finally Shi Shiran said: "Mr. Chen, we Now that you are a grasshopper on a rope, I think it would be better for you to be quiet and think about how to write a memorial!"
"You!" Chen Hua couldn't stand this guy's attitude. He simply turned away and said dryly: "I won't write!"
When Xu He heard this, he stood up and put his hands together in front of his mouth to make a trumpet shape...
"Your Majesty Chen regretted it...well..."
Before he finished speaking, Chen Hua, who was as passive as a rabbit, covered his mouth: "You kid, please don't hurt me!"
Xu He pulled his hand down, smiled slightly at Chen Hua and said, "Master County Lord, don't worry, the students are doing this for your own good!"
Chen Hua rolled his eyes at Xu He and said angrily: "According to what you said, do I still want to thank you?"
Xu He laughed and said: "You're welcome, you're welcome!"
Chen Hua was speechless. Facing this helpless young man, he now had no choice at all.
Xu He drank two more sips of tea, finally lost his lazy and rogue look, sat up straight and said seriously: "I would like to ask the county magistrate something, I don't know if it's okay!"
Chen Hua curled his lips and said angrily: "You, Mr. Xu, are such a powerful person. You are so eloquent. What else do you want to ask me about?"
Xu He knew that he was angry, so he did not get angry and said to himself: "Sir, your family is also a Zao Ding. Logically speaking, you should know the salt industry of Wei Dynasty very well. According to you, you can obviously rely on the sea to eat. Hai, with such good conditions, why were you forced to die in the end?"
This sentence made Chen Hua fall into deep thought without realizing it. After a moment, he reluctantly said: "It's just that the salt tax of the imperial court is too heavy and local exploitation is fierce!"
Xu He nodded: "Your Majesty is right to say that, but have you ever thought that today's Kaizhong method has ceased to exist in name only and cannot keep up with the times?"
Chen Hua nodded when he heard this: "The Kaizhong Law was a salt law established by the imperial court at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China to defend against enemies on the grassland. Now it seems to have drawbacks!"
The so-called Kaizhong method calls on merchants to transport grain to the border and hand it over to the border army. The border army will then issue a voucher to the salt department in exchange for salt. The merchants will then take the salt to the salt farm to exchange for salt. Finally, the salt will be trafficked to major cities by merchants. The salt production area of the Salt Division is specified.
Before the Kaizhong Law was implemented, Zaoding produced salt and sold it to the state, and merchants bought the salt with silver. Finally, the government obtained funds through the sale of official salt, most of which was turned over to the national treasury, and a small part was used to pay for the Zaoding's work costs and expenses. Administrative costs of the Imperial Salt Department.
In this operation method, the flow of funds is roughly as follows: salt merchant ~ salt department ~ court ~ fund use department ~ kitchen ding.
The opening rules are salt merchants ~ nine-border army ~ salt department ~ court ~ fund use department ~ Zao Ding.
Add an extra step of material circulation in the middle... go to the border to collect food.
Smart people may have understood the shortcomings of the winning method after seeing this fund operation table.
First, there are more government departments in circulation and more officials handling them, so there will be more exploitation and losses. Merchants will naturally have to make up for the increased costs from the kitchen households and buyers. In this way, not only the kitchen workers will gain The income is smaller, and the cost of salt for the people has also increased.
So in this case, will the businessman be fine?
No, increasing circulation means increasing risks. If something goes wrong in these processes, everything will be ruined in an instant.
What about the court?
The imperial court did not reap greater benefits through the Kaizhong Law, because merchants, cooks, and people did not benefit. As a result, everyone was not enthusiastic about official salt, and the sales of official salt were not good, which naturally hindered enthusiasm for production and lost production. , the merchants couldn't buy the goods, so they simply sold private salt. In this way, a vicious circle was created, and the court's salt tax was reduced day by day!
In the entire Kaizhong Law, it is estimated that the only real beneficiaries are officials at all levels.
So is the Kaizhong method useless?
No, if you rely on the court to transport grain to the border, it will also be a huge loss. Especially when transporting from Huguang, a major grain-producing province, to Shanxi and Shaanxi, 70% of the grain will be consumed in ten stops, and the court cannot bear it.
Xu He was also greatly surprised when he was talking to Xie Kun.
But we have to lament that the Kaizhong method is an inevitable product of history and cannot be denied entirely.
It can only be said that the original Kaizhong method is an emergency situation and a financial supplementary measure. Its function is that when unexpected military supply needs arise, the Kaizhong method can be used to "rush" materials without having to recruit corvees and waste people and money. Cause huge social crisis.
But after all, this is a special method at a special time. When the imperial border is peaceful, the supply exceeds the demand. The salt quota issued by the imperial court for Jiubian will naturally decrease. The reduction of salt quota will cause merchants to make less money, and the amount of salt produced by households will also decrease. During the war, the kitchen workers could still survive by relying on the imperial salt quota. Now that the quota is less, they can only go bankrupt or choose to produce private salt.
At this time, the salt tyrants relied on their accumulation and began to collect production tools to control Zaoding to help them produce private salt.
Over time, even if there is a real border provocation, the imperial court will no longer be able to impose production quotas on the salt farm.
"So, the Kaizhong Law has reached a point where it needs to be changed, and it must be changed, otherwise what happened in the Lianghuai Salt Division this time will spread across the country!"
Xu He's words made Chen Hua stunned.
Yes, he was aware of the shortcomings of the Kaizhong method, but he did not analyze it as thoroughly and clearly as Xu He did.
Moreover, considering the recent Japanese rebellion in the southeast, all but a few of the six major salt divisions of the imperial court were located along the coast.
If the Japanese rebellion is combined with the Zao Ding rebellion, the corruption will stretch for thousands of miles from Beijing to Tianjin to Guangfu. By then the Wei Dynasty...
Thinking of this, Chen Hua broke into a cold sweat.
Xu He knew that Chen Hua had listened to what he just said, so he struck while the iron was hot: "Your Excellency, although Xu He is working hard for the Xu Mansion, he cannot bear the loss of life in the world! Please report to us the precarious situation of the Wei Dynasty. This is also the student’s determination to serve the country with all his strength. Please understand!”
Chen Hua wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and asked in an almost trembling voice: "For today's plan, what should...should be done?"
Xu He nodded, indicating to him to be calm, and then said slowly: "Students have two strategies to deal with it!"
"First, rectify the Salt Department officials!"
"Two, reform the court's salt laws!"
