October.
The first day of October in the Qin Dynasty is the beginning of the year.
That is the first day of the Lunar New Year.
The city was much more lively than before. When Lu Zuojian met, most of them would smile and bow, saying to each other: "Have a good day."
It is similar to the New Year greetings of later generations.
In the scattered and alternating courtyards, peach charms are changed in front of every house.
The words "Shen Tu" and "Yu Lei" are written on the board.
The door of Ji Heng's house was closed tightly, and the excitement outside had nothing to do with him.
He sat alone in the small courtyard, watching the colorful fallen leaves. He was not affected by the "New Year" atmosphere, and he did not feel lonely at all.
He was used to enjoying solitude.
He took out a pot of wine that was sealed and placed it in the well, and poured himself a full cup of wine. The wine was very cold, but after drinking it, it had a different taste. He rested his head in one hand and held the cup in the other, looking calm. Looking at the sky, my mind drifted away with the clouds above.
I don’t know how much time has passed.
In this silent house, a creaking sound of the door suddenly rang out, waking up Ji Heng who was in a fugue.
He frowned and looked over.
Fusu walked in with a smile on his face, followed by an eunuch, who was holding a small bamboo basket in his hand.
Fusu cupped his hands and said, "I've met Mr. Ji."
"Just fine."
Ji Heng glanced at him lightly and returned the gift symbolically.
Fusu said: "I know that Mr. Ji is basically alone, so I brought some food from the palace."
Finished.
Fusu waved his hand.
Wei Sheng quickly placed the bamboo basket on the table.
Looking at the things in the bamboo basket, Ji Heng had a strange look in his eyes: "Liangpi?"
Fusu was startled and asked in surprise: "Mr. Ji knows about this thing?"
Ji Heng had a strange look in his eyes.
This thing was actually very common in later generations, but in the Qin Dynasty Liangpi was listed as a tribute.
Ji Heng said: "I've heard of it."
"Mr. Ji is really well-informed. I have only learned about this in the past few years." Fusu smiled bitterly, then raised his hand to signal Wei Sheng to step back.
Ji Heng did not refuse.
He has been in Qin Dynasty for so long that he really has no chance to eat it.
Just as Ji Heng was tasting the cold skin, Fusu said in a deep voice: "Mr. Ji, most of the salt and iron merchants in Guanzhong have handed over their salt ponds and mines. In the past few days, the imperial court has also sent people to take over. Everything is going well so far. There is no Too many things went wrong.”
"However, there are still a few people who don't understand the current situation."
"In the end, the court did not continue to tolerate the incident and brought the merchants to justice in accordance with the law."
Fusu felt a little uneasy.
This is his order.
He also did not ask Ji Heng for his opinion.
Ji Heng peeled a few pieces of garlic, patted it hard, and then threw it into the pottery bowl. While stirring, he said: "You don't need to tell me how the court will do it. I only play the role of 'making suggestions'. How to do it is up to you." Just decide for yourself.”
Fusu raised his forehead slightly and said, "Fusu remembers it."
“After Salt and Iron was taken back, there was actually a lot of local dissent, but it did not affect stability.”
"So I didn't care."
"After the situation in Guanzhong stabilized, His Majesty also ordered this morning to spread this law throughout the country. With the speed of transmission of Daqin documents, it can basically be spread throughout the country within a month."
Speaking of which.
Fusu sighed softly and said with emotion: "In the past thirty years, I seemed to be obsessed with my career, but in fact I made no achievements. Now that I have participated in the salt and iron affairs, I have really done something useful for Da Qin, at least It can also help Da Qin collect more business taxes and buy more time."
"He is not a completely useless person."
"hehe."
Hear the words.
Ji Heng shook his head and said, "You are too optimistic."
"The matter of salt and iron has just begun."
"Kanto is different from Guanzhong. Guanzhong can control it within a very small range, but that may not be the case in Kanto."
"Is there any follow-up to Yantie?" Fusu was startled, and he said in a solemn voice: "But Mr. Ji, didn't you say before that you only need to take care of Guanzhong? Guandong will suppress it on its own, so why have you changed your tune now?"
Fusu felt something bad in his heart.
Ji Heng sucked the last bit of cold skin in the bowl into his mouth, and then said: "Guandong is just a general term, and it is not really monolithic. There will indeed be some commotion in Guandong, and then it will be the real test of Great Qin."
Fusu Zuo bowed and said, "May I ask Mr. Ji, what will happen in Guandong?"
Ji Heng glanced at Fusu indifferently and said coldly: "It will cause chaos."
"Chaotic?" Fusu's expression froze.
Ji Heng said calmly: "Guandong is generally composed of six places. Merchants have a low status in most areas, but there is one place where it is different."
Hear the words.
"Qi the ground!" Fusu understood immediately.
Ji Heng nodded and said: "After Guan Zhong's reform, Qi's commerce was extremely developed, which invisibly elevated the status of merchants. After the Qin Dynasty destroyed Qi, it was true that most of the nobles and powerful men of Qi were moved to Guanzhong, but the merchants actually suffered The implication is minimal.”
"Merchant values profits."
"The land is flat and there are mountains and seas."
"If you rely on the mountains, you can eat the mountains; if you rely on the sea, you can eat the sea."
"The Qi people have already formed quite a large interest group in the salt and iron business. Now that the imperial court is re-establishing its official position, it is undoubtedly competing with them for profit. How can these people remain indifferent?"
"Therefore something is bound to happen to Qidi!"
"I know that in the past few days, when I saw most of the merchants surrendering honestly, I had a lot of ideas in my heart. I even wanted the court to follow suit and control food, land, and loans that were very popular among nobles in the past. Money, etc.”
"But I'm telling you."
"People can only do what they can."
Fusu lowered his head, but did not dare to look at Ji Heng.
He did have the idea.
In fact, I came here with the intention of asking, but now I heard Ji Heng's words, but I didn't dare to speak again. I pretended to think deeply for a while and asked: "If a rebellion really breaks out in Qi, how will the court deal with it? "
Ji Heng sneered and said: "If there is a local rebellion, the imperial court will naturally go to put it down. Is there anything else to think about?"
"If the imperial court is involved, wouldn't it ruin the plan?" Fusu looked solemn.
Ji Heng held his forehead and rubbed his temples. He no longer knew whether he should call Fusu innocent or simple. He shook his head and said: "The court is the court, and you are you. You only need to focus on Guanzhong now. As for the world, The matter is decided by the First Emperor."
"Even if Guandong is in chaos, what can you do?"
"It's not your turn to counter the rebellion."
"You need to understand that everything is difficult at the beginning."
"The merchants are already Great Qin's best breaking point. If even the merchants can't change it."
"That basically declares the 'death' of Great Qin!"
"It's just that it hasn't been buried yet!"
Ji Heng's tone became serious, even a bit solemn.
It was the first time Fusu saw Ji Heng so serious.
But he was still a little surprised and doubtful. Is the impact of the merchant rebellion so bad?
He asked: "Sir, please elaborate."
Ji Heng sat on his exclusive recliner, glanced at Fusu with a cold look, and said in a deep voice: "Merchant is indeed not important, but the restoration forces behind the merchants are very important. The rebellion in Guandong will not be the rebellion of the kidney merchants. It’s the chaos of the restoration forces of the Six Kingdoms.”
"You need to understand the reason."
"The reason why we chose to use salt and iron as a breakthrough this time."
"Actually, I'm taking the opportunity to test."
"The salt and iron franchise originated from Guan Zhong's 'Guan Shan Hai', and many people in the world know about it. Therefore, Da Qin's sudden promotion of 'Guan Shan Hai' will not cause much objection. Most people will only think that the court is short of money and want to imitate Guan Zhong." The other method is to make profits by specializing in salt and iron."
"When the officials in Guandong get the relevant documents and make a little comparison, they will definitely see that the court's measures are similar to Guan Zhong's methods."
“And it’s all intentional.”
"The purpose is to make the nobles and officials of Guandong relax their wariness towards the imperial court, and let them preconceptionally believe that the imperial court may be facing financial difficulties and urgently need to rely on this method of fishing to make money from the world."
"And you can only use salt and iron."
"There is a precedent."
"This is how Guan Zhong carried out his reforms. For now, Da Qin can only follow the path ahead."
"Secondly, after Guan Zhong's reform, the Qi Kingdom declined. This will undoubtedly make the remnants of the Six Kingdoms think that the Qin Dynasty will be like this, and it also invisibly reduces the will of the remnants of the Six Kingdoms to rebel, making them subconsciously want to delay it for a while. "
"Come three."
"No other way to break the situation will work."
"Land, food, loans, etc., involve too many rentiers, including most of the nobles, powerful people and officials in the world. They are not something that Da Qin can touch at the moment. They cannot even touch them. Once they touch them, they will be in trouble. Self-destruction.”
"Annoy the vast majority of rentiers in the world."
"This is self-destruction from the world."
"The situation in Da Qin is already very dangerous. If we don't make changes, it will slowly wither like a tree trunk off the ground. Therefore, Da Qin must make changes."
"Among the 'scholars, farmers, industry and merchants' divided by Guan Zhong, Da Qin was the only one who could move, and the only one who dared to move was Shang."
"Animal traffickers and lackeys have no impact on the situation."
"To disturb the land, food, and loans that are deeply tied to the nobility, powerful people, and officials is undoubtedly a recipe for disaster."
"So Da Qin can only choose to use salt and iron merchants!"
"Salt and iron are relatively low-end commodities among the world's commodities. Their value is not as high as that of land, population, and loan money, but they are more profitable than the lowest-level traffickers. It just takes a lot of time to travel. Businessmen, go and do business, plus they have to levy a tax of more than half, so they are not valued by noble officials."
"However, salt and iron are necessary for the world."
"So it's most appropriate to use it as a break at the moment."
Fusu nodded secretly.
After hearing Ji Heng's explanation, he suddenly realized why Ji Heng chose to use salt and iron instead of using fields, grain, etc.
Everything is weighed against the pros and cons.
"Since salt and iron are neither high nor low among the world's commodities, why do you think that it might trigger the Kanto Rebellion?" Fusu asked.
He looked puzzled.
Ji Heng poured himself a cup of Tongjue wine.
Drink it all in gulps.
A refreshing chill surged into his heart, and Ji Heng said coldly: "That's actually just a speculation."
"The number five to five."
"But Da Qin cannot afford to lose, let alone lose."
"So once it loses, it also means Great Qin"
Ji Heng shook his head and said with a sigh of relief: "I have run out of energy and am destined to die!"
(End of chapter)
