Can’t sell the whole big man?
What is this statement?
Liu Bei is very strange.
"Why can't you buy the whole big man? Tell me."
"The taxes are too high."
Meng Tuo said slowly: "There is an additional 10% tax for crossing a pass. How many passes are there in the entire Han Dynasty? In some places, in addition to the passes set up by the imperial court, there are also passes set up by local prefectures and state governments, which also require tax. No. If you pay taxes, don’t even think about selling it locally.
The imperial court would only consider its own taxes, and local governments would also consider their own taxes. Everyone was an official and had to spend money. According to the current situation in the Han Dynasty, no one would think that if the imperial court collected taxes, the local governments could not collect them. Tax.
The Luoyang court often failed to take care of the private checkpoints established by these local counties and turned a blind eye to this. They only collected taxes and made money, but did not care about anything else. They were even more evil than the eunuchs.
Sir, don't be angry. I'm going to put it bluntly. If the eunuch takes the money, he is really doing something for you. If he doesn't do it well, he will refund the money. But what about these officials? He just collects money and doesn't do anything. If you reason with him, he will lock you up directly. "
Liu Bei looked at Meng Tuo with incomprehensible eyes.
"So this is why you paid the eunuch to buy the governor of Liangzhou?"
Meng Tuo was stunned, smiled coquettishly, and wisely did not continue to discuss this issue.
"Junhou, in this case, if you really want to sell the peach wine to a far away place, such as Qingxu or Yangzhou, the cost of passing through the checkpoint will be very high, unimaginably high.
By that time, the price of rose peach wine will far exceed that of gold. Rich people are not fools. It’s okay to try it. I’m afraid they won’t be willing to buy it in large quantities. After all, if you don’t drink rose peach wine, you won’t die. They would buy wine instead, and anything they couldn't sell would be thrown into their hands.
According to Meng’s many years of experience in selling goods, Liangzhou’s goods are sold eastward to the Luoyang area at most, and it is difficult to go south. Although Hanzhong and Shuzhong are relatively prosperous, the roads are too difficult and it is difficult to go there. If it is too big, it may be difficult to hold on to it in the long run. "
Meng Tuo's words were definitely based on experience, and he immediately made Liu Bei very depressed.
Passing a checkpoint is a tax of more than 10%. In some places, in addition to the imperial checkpoints, private checkpoints are also set up to collect various taxes and suck blood...
There are limits to businessmen's pursuit of profit, which directly makes national commodity connectivity and commercial exchanges extremely difficult, unless Jiangdong and Liaodong rely on sea routes to connect, which may be able to avoid some tax barriers.
There is no sea anywhere from Liangzhou!
He finally understood why the commodity economy never developed in ancient times.
All places want to profit from it and take a commission from it. In the end, the scope of commodity trading is very narrow, and goods can hardly be transported smoothly across the country.
Liu Bei thought about it carefully. According to Meng Tuo, being able to sell Liangzhou salt and wine south to Shuzhong and east to Luoyang is basically the limit under the current situation.
Continuing to expand eastward and southward cannot be explained by normal business logic.
Moreover, this would also greatly reduce the profits he made from selling goods. Even if he issued an order as a Liangzhou herdsman, Liangzhou salt could flow unimpeded within Liangzhou, leaving Liangzhou and entering the land of Sanfu and Sanhe. In the land, we still have to face a large number of tax gates and ferries.
….
These are all places where the imperial court can make money, can we let them go?
If you don’t want to go through the level once, you have to pay the tax. How much effort does it take to open the joints? How much will it cost? How much more money can you make?
Although relying on this high-quality salt, even if it is only sold in Liangzhou, it can quickly sweep the local market in Liangzhou and make a lot of money, but it cannot be sold outside, which is really a big loss.
Salt should not be a luxury product, it should be an affordable product, and its nature is completely different from that of peach wine. The experience of wine cannot be applied to salt.
After thinking about it, Liu Bei suddenly
Now I have a good idea that can circumvent these obstacles to a certain extent.
So Liu Bei found Liu Hui, who was in charge of the intelligence system, and secretly gave him instructions to go to Luoyang to find Zhang Rang, and then to find Liu Hong through Zhang Rang to discuss a business deal with them.
Liu Hui is the only person under Liu Bei who knows about Liu Bei's relationship with Liu Hong and Zhang Rang. He is also Liu Bei's absolute closest confidant. Only he can handle this matter.
Seeing the fine salt made by Liu Bei, Liu Hui tasted it and was very surprised.
"If this is the case, Hui will definitely fulfill his mission!"
"I'll leave everything to you. Be careful. You can disguise yourself if necessary. Don't leak your whereabouts before the matter is finalized."
"only!"
Liu Hui secretly left Liangzhou for Luoyang with Liu Bei's order and a bag of salt.
Liu Bei was closely watching the military movements of Guan Yu, who was responsible for conquering Jincheng County, and sent people to tell Guan Yu that after solving the rebellion in Jincheng County, he would continue to the west to find the Great Salt Lake, and he must ensure that the Great Salt Lake was protected by the Han army. under the control.
That area should now be the area of activity of the Shaodang Qiang. Whenever the Shaodang Qiang do something unfriendly, Guan Yu can deal with them severely and beat them until they are willing to establish bilateral relations.
Because he was worried that Guan Yu would not have enough troops, Liu Bei sent Liu Yong, who had just arrived in Liangzhou a few days ago, to lead a thousand cavalry to support Guan Yu and help Guan Yu enhance his martial virtue and enter a state of abundant martial virtue.
With four thousand well-equipped and well-trained troops, Liu Bei didn't believe that Guan Yu couldn't defeat the situation.
A few days ago, when Liu Bei was busy with his feet off the ground, Qian Zhao, Liu Yong, Liu Sheng and other old subordinates Liu Bei sent to serve Lu Zhi arrived in Liangzhou. Liu Bei was very happy and had no time to reminisce about the past. Temporary tasks were assigned to everyone and they immediately got into work.
Qianzhao originally wanted to find Liu Bei to reminisce about old friendships and talk about longing for each other, but Liu Bei gave him a hug and sent him to Zhen Yan to handle financial and land affairs. He immediately fell into a state of confusion. hell.
There was no way, almost 100,000 people needed to be resettled, and the intensity of this job was really a bit high. Qianzhao was so busy that he couldn't even touch the ground with his heels, and he couldn't communicate with Liu Bei.
Liu Bei was really doing something, he really wanted to make Liangzhou a better place, and he really invested a lot of money and energy in this. All of this was actually seen by the local officials in Liangzhou.
They witnessed with their own eyes the changes Liu Bei brought to Liangzhou after his arrival, as well as Liu Bei's unique style of conduct.
….
When Liangzhou governors came to take office, few of them could resist being greedy. Occasionally, there were a few who were not greedy, and most of them were corrupt scholars like Song Xiao. People like Liu Bei not only refused to take any money from home, but also subsidized it out of their own pockets. There is only one person in charge of Liangzhou Construction.
Of course, these official figures understand that to judge a person, you should look at what he does, not what he says. No matter how beautiful the words are, it is not as good as doing something well, otherwise he will just talk.
Liangzhou really doesn’t need the talk.
Liu Bei really poured money into it, and mobilized his troops to fight everywhere to destroy the grass-head kings who did not listen to the government's orders. He was really improving the situation in Liangzhou.
Therefore, the local officials in Liangzhou also truly felt that they seemed to have ushered in a turning point. They had welcomed a leader who was so unique that he was even a little precious.
Whether it is Yan Wen, Yan Zhong, Gai Xun, or Pang De, they all think so.
Liu Bei practiced hard, worked hard, and set an example, changing the style of the Liangzhou government from overstaffed and overstaffed to lean and efficient.
Hanyang County was the first to show off a scene of vitality and all things flourishing, and it has only taken half a year so far.
Liu Bei was a competent officer, even a little too competent, too competent.
Not only Gai Xun felt that Liu Bei's appointment as Liangzhou Mu was a blessing to Liangzhou, but locals such as Yan Wen and Yan Zhong also thought so. Local officials in Liangzhou who were a little angry also thought so.
This kind of high-spiritedness
They had never experienced the feeling of vitality, but they suddenly experienced it and were intoxicated.
In this regard, Jia Xu, a native of Wuwei County who had just accepted Liu Bei's invitation to serve in Hebei County, felt the same way.
(End of chapter)
Yuyan
