The next day.
It was already daylight.
Ji Heng got up from the table sleepily.
I trimmed my clothes a little, heated up the leftover food from yesterday, and just made do with it.
Then he leisurely inspected the vegetable seedlings in the yard.
After the rain, the sky clears up.
The sky seemed to have been washed by water.
Very clear.
The weather is getting colder.
Ji Heng also began to prepare for winter.
Just as he was busy for a while, the sound of thin footsteps sounded outside the house.
There was a banging on the door.
"The door is unlocked." Ji Heng's voice came out leisurely.
Two figures entered the courtyard one after the other.
Fusu bowed and said: "Fusu has read "Guanzi" several times in the past few days, and has a certain understanding of the economic strategies promoted by Guanzi, but his understanding is still somewhat lacking. This time, I came here specially to think about it. Ask sir for advice.”
Ji Heng wiped his palms with a coarse cloth and said indifferently: "There is no need to be so polite. Everyone just does what they need."
"Since you have watched "Guanzi", how do you think you should 'rob money'?" Ji Heng took the wine bottle, sat on his own exclusive recliner, and started to take the exam with great interest.
Fusu looked calm and said calmly: "Guan Zhong was born as a merchant, so he was more sensitive to money and food. The 'Guan Shan Hai' method he proposed, that is, the salt and iron monopoly, was also useful to Da Qin."
“People are powerless if they don’t eat salt.”
"Salt is a necessity of life. You can eat less, but you can't skip it."
"And today a piece of rock salt sells for 100 yuan."
"Except for special circumstances, most grains only cost more than thirty yuan."
"When I was cheap, it only cost twenty dollars."
"Compared with grain prices, salt prices are significantly higher."
"It is impossible for people to buy one stone at a time. They will only spend two or more to buy a liter to meet their daily needs."
"Of the merchants' profits, the court received more than half of it. Excluding production and transportation expenses, merchants can make at least ten or twenty yuan in profit for one stone salt."
“It doesn’t look like much profit at first glance.”
"However, there are twenty million people in the world."
"If accumulated over a year, businessmen can make at least millions of dollars from it."
"In the past few days, the DPRK is carrying out a 'planning'. I have also gone to visit and have a certain understanding of the world's land rent. There are 52 hectares of farmland in Qianling County, and the land rent is only 270,000 yuan when converted into coins. The money is not available.”
"The net profits of these big merchants selling salt in a year are comparable to the land rent in more than a dozen major counties."
"This does not include the fluctuation of salt prices. If the fluctuations of salt prices are included, the profits of merchants will only be greater. In my opinion, Daqin should follow Guan Zhong's method and make salt and iron official. This move will not only increase fiscal revenue, but also To a certain extent, it can also reduce the price of salt and benefit the people.”
"Reducing the burden on the people."
Fusu looked generous and spoke plausibly.
Ji Heng nodded, shook his head, and said profoundly: "Fusu, when you were looking after the tube, have you ever thought about whether people will become addicted if money comes in too fast?"
Hear the words.
Fusu was immediately stunned.
Ji Heng sat upright solemnly and sneered: "Looking at your appearance, you probably haven't thought about it."
Fusu nodded honestly.
Ji Heng said: "If you have such an understanding of the salt and iron franchise now, you must have seen the price increase mentioned in "Guanzi·Sea King"."
"In a country of ten thousand chariots, with a population of tens of millions, if the price of salt only needs to be increased by two yuan, sixty million yuan can easily be made. How can people be tempted by such a huge profit?"
"Is Daqin short of money right now?"
Fusu's expression changed, as if he had guessed what Ji Heng wanted to say, and he said: "The imperial court specializes in salt and iron. It can make a lot of money. It will never raise the price."
"Absolutely?" Ji Heng laughed loudly and said with deep eyes: "Fusu, you underestimate the temptation of 'tax included in price'."
"As you said before, people are powerless if they don't eat salt."
"Salt is a necessity for the people."
"So no matter how high the price of salt is, people will definitely buy it."
"At most, eat less on a regular basis and eat whatever happens."
"If the imperial court has no financial problems, it may not raise prices. However, if there are financial problems, the temptation of salt and iron is so great. Who wouldn't want to take a sip?"
"And the tax is included in the price."
"Compared with increasing land rent and taxes, increasing the price of salt is obviously more acceptable to the people and easier to collect money."
Listening to Ji Heng's description, Fusu had already anticipated that scene, and his face immediately turned pale.
With a pale face, he gritted his teeth and said, "Da Qin wouldn't do this."
Ji Heng sneered: "No way?"
"I think it will!"
"You simply can't imagine the temptation of easily increasing the revenue by tens of millions of dollars by raising the price by just one or two cents."
“All anyone could think about at that point was take a puff and take another puff.”
"Even if you know that the bottom layer will be sucked dry, or even sucked to death, you still won't restrain yourself, because the bottom layer is just a number to the court."
"Do you care whether the numbers live or die?"
Ji Heng sighed softly.
He is extremely familiar with the 'salt monopoly'.
In the previous life, after the Tang Dynasty implemented the 'salt monopoly', the price of salt increased by up to thirty-seven times.
The price of a bucket of salt suddenly increased from 10 to 370 yuan, which eventually led to people breaking the ban, and Rongzhen also frequently appealed.
No one can resist the temptation of selling salt.
If you get money too quickly, you will become addicted. Once you become addicted, it will be difficult to quit. Even if you quit, it will be easy to relapse.
Not so in the Han and Tang dynasties.
The Qin Dynasty could not do the same.
Once interests are involved, don't try to challenge human nature.
Otherwise, you will only get a bloody lesson.
There was dead silence.
Fusu's expression changed again and again.
Finally, he sighed and said no more.
He couldn't argue.
Ji Heng may be right. He can guarantee that he will not raise prices, but can he guarantee that others will not raise prices? Can you guarantee that the First Emperor will not raise prices?
Can't do it!
Even he himself may not be able to do it.
Hu Hai looked around and said doubtfully: "According to what you said, this won't work, that won't work either, so what should we do?"
Ji Heng glanced at Hu Hai and said in a deep voice: "The salt and iron monopoly proposed by Guan Zhong can indeed make a lot of profits, but once the management is out of control, it will turn into robbing the people. It is not a good thing for the country or the people. Therefore, The imperial court’s monopoly is absolutely unacceptable.”
"Merchants are there to sell goods."
"The imperial court cannot overstep its authority!"
"Otherwise, under a high degree of centralization, a slight loss of control will cause disaster."
"If we continue to use merchants, what's the difference between that and now?" Hu Hai looked puzzled.
Ji Heng said:
"The difference is natural."
"It is not suitable for the imperial court to specialize in salt and iron, but it is feasible to specialize in mountain and sea resources."
"in short."
"Official property, official collection, commercial transportation, traders!"
"The imperial court has complete control over the salt and iron resources, but is not responsible for selling them and only focuses on collecting taxes."
Fusu frowned and said doubtfully: "This is not much different from businessmen's production and sales. The court still needs to invest more manpower and material resources. The court currently has no spare capacity to produce salt and iron."
Fusu's eyes were full of doubts.
Ji Heng slowly lay down on the recliner and did not answer immediately, but asked: "Fusu, in your opinion, what is the significance of the country to the people?"
Hear the words.
Fusu frowned.
He had never thought about this before.
Ji Heng's sudden question really stopped him.
"What does the country mean to the people?" Fusu lowered his head and frowned in deep thought.
a long time.
He then tentatively replied: "Stable and peaceful?"
Ji Heng shook his head.
"Fair and just?" Fusu asked again.
Ji Heng continued to shake his head.
After being denied one after another, Fusu simply didn't answer and said with a wry smile: "I don't know."
"May I ask, sir, what does the country mean to the people in your eyes?"
(End of chapter)
