After consulting Zhuge Liang on many issues regarding the development of Nanzhong, Zhang Xi finally gained confidence in his Nanzhong development plan and felt a lot more relieved after receiving Zhuge Liang's suggestions and affirmation.
There is no way. In his last life, Zhang Xi was just an ordinary citizen. In this life, his experience in local governance is still in the relatively mature Nanjun area, and there are ready-made governance plans for reference.
In a place like Nanzhong, where the situation is special and there are not many precedents to refer to, Zhang Xi really has no confidence in the governance plan he has thought up alone and can only seek Zhuge Liang's approval.
In this era, Zhuge Liang's political ability is definitely the best in the world, no matter who he asks.
After helping Zhang Xi determine the development plan of Nanzhong, Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi finally began to talk about the distribution of resources and minerals among various departments in Nanzhong.
This incident was Zhuge Liang's real purpose in going south.
Regarding the issue of mineral deposits, there is actually a certain tacit understanding between the Liu Bei Group and the Shuzhong family.
The aristocratic families in Shu knew about Liu Bei's financial situation. After successive wars, they were not only short of food, but also short of money.
The Shuzhong family knew that these mineral resources were a life-saving financial source for Liu Bei, so Liu Bei definitely hoped to develop them quickly.
After all, although Zhibai Qian has become a hard currency after being linked to Shu brocade, compared with the real five baht money, it is not very popular with the people after all.
And Liu Bei also knew that as for the mineral deposits in Nanzhong, except for salt and iron, which were legally owned by the government and the aristocratic families did not dare to touch, all other mineral deposits, whether they were gold mines, silver mines, copper mines, or tin mines , these aristocratic families have great interest in getting involved. After all, minerals are an industry that can be passed down for hundreds of years.
Liu Bei needed the power of the aristocratic family to help him quickly develop the mineral deposits, and the aristocratic family also needed Liu Bei's positive permission to mine in the mountains openly and accumulate family wealth.
Therefore, both parties are willing to cooperate.
But the difference between the two sides lies in how to cooperate.
The real contradiction here is not only between Liu Bei and the family, but more importantly, the ideas behind each force under the Liu Bei Group are different.
The Yuancong faction of Liu Bei Group is okay, but its own foundation is not enough. Whether it is money, food or manpower, it is not enough to take a share of the mineral resources alone.
In addition, they have a close relationship with Liu Bei, so as long as Liu Bei gives some of his share of the copper mine to the Yuancong faction, they will be satisfied.
The real fight is between the Yizhou Faction and the Jingzhou Faction, two factions supported by their respective local aristocratic families.
The Jingzhou faction hopes to obtain the mining rights of the mine for a certain number of years through redemption.
This approach is actually the most beneficial to Liu Bei Group. After all, the property rights of the mine are still in Liu Bei's own hands. If Liu Bei redeems it with the family, he can also take the initiative in the negotiation, and he can immediately receive a large amount of copper coins to subsidize the government. financial.
Moreover, it is definitely more convenient to recycle existing currency from the market than to recast currency, and at the same time, it will not cause major damage to the existing economic system.
Another thing is that after the mining period expires, Liu Bei can redeem it from the family again. By repeating this process, Liu Bei can get back a large sum of copper coins every few years.
Finally, the Jingzhou faction used selfish redemption to obtain mining rights. The competition was based on who had more money and who was close to the King of Hanzhong.
Obviously, when did the Jingzhou faction follow the King of Hanzhong? ! Can you Yizhou guys compare? !
In this case, the Jingzhou family, which was originally at a disadvantage due to lack of manpower, could be brought down to an equal position with the Yizhou family.
When it comes to things like copper mines, even the Jingzhou aristocratic families who are far away from each other hope to get a piece of the pie.
The proposers of this plan were Liu Ba and Liu Zichu, economists from the Liu Bei Group.
It can be said that Liu Ba's suggestion took into account the interests of the Liu Bei Group and the Jingzhou Family. Although the Yizhou Family suffered a bit, they were still open to the Yizhou Family. As long as you offer money that the King of Hanzhong cannot refuse. , then you can also obtain copper mining rights.
But the Yizhou aristocratic families would definitely not agree with Liu Ba's suggestion.
The copper mine is in Nanzhong, and Nanzhong belongs to the Yizhou Prefectural Department in terms of geography and administrative division. Does it have anything to do with you, a Jingzhou person? !
Therefore, the plan proposed by the Yizhou families is this.
The Liu Bei Group and the Yizhou families will work together to divide the ownership of all minerals in Nanzhong Minerals except salt and iron. We can discuss the specific distribution ratio and the amount of ownership purchased in private. Even the Yizhou families are trying to drive away the Jingzhou faction. After this mineral distribution, they all gritted their teeth and agreed that Liu Bei would levy taxes on the minerals he mined. However, we can also discuss this tax ratio in private.
The proposers of this plan were Huang Quan and Fazheng, who jointly suggested it to Liu Bei, King of Hanzhong.
Obviously, facing the pressure from the Jingzhou faction, Huang Quan, a native Yizhou faction, chose to cooperate with the Dongzhou faction represented by Fa Zheng.
No matter where the Dongzhou faction is originally from, they have lived in Yizhou for a long time, and their core interests are also in Yizhou. Although the Dongzhou faction originally had many conflicts with the Yizhou local faction due to issues such as land and population, When it comes to the external Jingzhou faction, there are actually many common interests between the Dongzhou faction and the Yizhou local faction.
By the way, the wealthy families in Nanzhong, such as the Li family, the Meng family, the Jiao family, etc., are all within the scope of the Yizhou local faction, and these local snakes firmly support the Yizhou faction's plan. After all, they are local snakes , it’s convenient to do anything, and the profit margin is the largest. Of course, you don’t want to have to pay the redemption money again every few years. A one-time transaction is the best.
Liu Bei had not made up his mind about these two cooperation plans.
In fact, neither plan does much harm to Liu Bei. After all, Liu Bei is the one who really controls the majority of Nanzhong's mineral resources, not to mention that both plans can bring Liu Bei a lot of wealth or tax revenue.
But the Jingzhou faction’s plan will cause dissatisfaction with the Yizhou faction, and the Yizhou faction’s plan will exclude the Jingzhou faction. Now Liu Bei has more people under his command, and there are people representing the interests of various forces, so a comprehensive plan must be done. consider.
It was not until Zhuge Liang went south that Liu Bei reluctantly made up his mind to choose the Jingzhou faction's plan.
On the one hand, the Jingzhou faction’s plan did not completely exclude the Yizhou faction. It was a competition in which those with money could obtain mining rights. Unlike the Yizhou faction’s plan, it completely excluded the Jingzhou faction.
On the other hand, Liu Bei is now in Yizhou and has stricter control over the Yizhou faction, but for Jingzhou, he can only count on his second brother Guan Yu to manage it.
During the last Jiangdong sneak attack, the local aristocratic families in Jingzhou had a tendency to become unstable. If there were not loyal and reliable people guarding every position, there is no telling what the outcome of Jingzhou would be like.
If the aristocratic families in Jingzhou are excluded from the mineral distribution in Yizhou this time, God knows what these aristocratic families will think. This will be very detrimental to unity.
Furthermore, Liu Bei did not want his civil and military officials to have such strict geographical divisions, especially in matters of national importance.
To sum up, it is understandable that Liu Bei chose the fairer plan of the Jingzhou faction.
This time Zhuge Liang went south with this plan in mind and presided over the redemption work in Wei County. The most important thing was to bargain with representatives of major aristocratic families to delineate the redemption area and the mining period.
Only Zhuge Liang, a man who is fair in dealing with matters, has first-rate government skills, and is trusted by both Jingzhou and Yizhou factions as well as Liu Bei, can truly convince everyone in this kind of matter.
In order to do this well, Zhuge Liang did not dare to be careless at all. He invited Zhang Xi to discuss day and night, and finally got a more general understanding of the distribution of minerals in various places in Nanzhong.
Moreover, Zhang Xi also suggested to Zhuge Liang not to redeem and distribute all the minerals at once.
Let’s not talk about whether these aristocratic families have the ability to mine all the minerals in Nanzhong at once. Even if they can, Liu Bei Group will slowly give up the initiative to these aristocratic families through redemptions one after another.
Therefore, there must be a follow-up development plan to continue to attract these aristocratic families to invest money and dig out all the copper coins hidden in the cellars by these aristocratic families. This is the most beneficial thing for the finances.
Having a copper mine does not mean that Liu Bei can mint five baht coins without restraint. Not only are economic geniuses like Zhuge Liang and Liu Ba, but even Liu Bei also knows that doing so will not be beneficial to the government's finances.
They may not understand the specific principles, but they are very clear about the consequences. After all, there are too many cases in this regard in ancient China.
Another thing, although it sounds nonsense to say this, there is really no shortage of copper coins in this era. What is lacking is the circulation of copper coins. Whether princes or noble families, there is a tradition of hiding copper coins, and even using them for burials.
The more chaotic the world becomes, the more aristocratic families and nobles will treasure copper coins, as if they want to find a sense of peace of mind.
Therefore, Zhang Xi suggested that Zhuge Liang could develop the minerals in Nanzhong in batches. For example, this time he could first develop the copper mining area in Dongchuan, north of Guchang.
As for the copper mining area south of Wei County and near Fuxian Lake, it is temporarily closed to the public and will not be developed.
In fact, it is the set of financial investments in later generations. Investors must be given hope of continuing to make money, so that financiers can continue to harvest leeks.
It's just that Liu Bei's mind is not so dark. He is not a wolf with empty hands. He actually comes up with real gold and silver. These gold, silver and copper mines are Liu Bei's capital, and in this era, they are a sure profit. .
Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi discussed for a long time, and the two tired and bad guys finally designed the overall process and division of the redemption area. The only thing left is to wait for all the aristocratic families to be in place and start the public redemption.
Yes, this was what Zhang Xi suggested again. Change the private negotiation with the representatives of the family to a public redemption, which is the so-called auction.
This has two benefits.
One is to be more open and transparent. Everyone speaks only based on money, and no human relations can work.
Another thing. As for the relationship between the Yizhou faction and the Jingzhou faction, there is also the Dongzhou faction within the Yizhou faction, and the difference between the Nanzhong native faction and the Yizhou native faction. It would be strange if they didn't fight for it.
Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi don't care whether you grab it or not. Liu Bei might be happy to see it happen. It's not a good thing for the master to have a bunch of aristocratic families in a group.
And if you grab it like this, won’t the price of this auction go up? !
It’s all money, you can’t do without it, right? !
(End of chapter)
