"Back to Your Majesty, according to statistics, in the warehouses in Tokyo, there are still more than 46,200 stones of grain, more than 136.7 million yuan of money, and 5,000 pieces of silk..."
With this little surplus of food and money, we can't pay salaries to officials or pay salaries to the Imperial Guards, which can't last long. His big man was actually so poor. Liu Chengyou tried his best to maintain his demeanor. It could be seen from his complexion that he was not in a good mood.
Probably knowing what Liu Chengyou was worried about, Wang Zhang followed up and reported: "Your Majesty, please put it down. After the chaos in the river is calmed down, the world will be solemn. In a short period of time, the court will not have huge expenditures. At the moment, the autumn grain harvest in various places will be completed, and the autumn taxes will be collected." It will also be put into the warehouse, which will be enough to alleviate the country's poverty. On the Tokyo market, private merchants and merchants have already put grain in it to relieve the shortage of food and supply it to the capital..."
Listening to Wang Zhang's narration, Liu Chengyou's expression softened significantly. After thinking about it, he couldn't help but say: "Tokyo has insufficient storage and is still in danger of food shortage. However, the market price of food is still high, and the people may not be able to afford it. I often hear that in the city, The poor will starve to death! It is my opinion that the government should set prices and suppress the price of food!"
Liu Chengyou is bringing up old matters again.
Hearing this, Wang Zhang's face suddenly showed an anxious look, and he hurriedly clasped his hands and admonished: "Since we are in danger of lack of food, this strategy must not be feasible! Although the price of food is high, it has improved greatly compared to the early days of the country. Grain merchants from all over the country can only rush to transport grain when they hear that they are making a profit. Otherwise, if foreign grain does not enter Beijing, it is really difficult to support the consumption of hundreds of thousands of officials, soldiers and civilians in Tokyo with only official reserves!"
Facing Liu Chengyou's "misfortune", Wang Zhang seemed a little anxious.
"The foundation of a country is to have enough food first. If the people cannot eat enough, how can I feel so embarrassed!" Liu Chengyou suddenly said angrily.
If Liu Chengyou's words were taken seriously, he would lose. Before when the country was extremely poor, when he had to pay 600 to 700 yuan for a pound of rice, he was not so excited. He encouraged the war without blinking an eye...
"Your Majesty! I think what Mr. Wang said is reasonable!" After listening to the questions from the king and his ministers, Yang Bin couldn't help but speak up and supported Wang Zhang: "On the matter of food prices, just let the people do what they want. Merchants can make a profit. , when rice from all over the world comes to the capital, it is plentiful but the price is low. Your Majesty is concerned that the capital is short of food and at the same time lowers the price of rice. Is there any way to have both worlds?"
Yang Bin's style is still so direct, and he speaks without politeness. Liu Chengyou only glanced at him briefly and thought about it secretly.
What Wang Zhang and Yang Bin said still makes sense. Just like shortly after entering Tokyo last year, Liu Chengyou focused on cracking down on artificially high food prices. When there is a shortage of food, it is necessary to forcefully suppress food prices. When the country and the court do not have the strength, it is simply a joke to do so forcefully.
Basically, as long as Liu Chengyou imposes a price limit on rice grains, it is certain that the wealthy merchants who have been actively transporting grains to Tokyo to make huge profits during this period will definitely be deterred. Liu Chengyou has experienced it before.
It is true that Liu Chengyou is concerned about food issues, but he does not necessarily need to use hard measures to limit food prices. He has often had this idea, but he just can't bear the feeling of being controlled by others.
Thinking rationally, as suggested by Yang and Wang, it is more appropriate to liberalize the food policy in the short term. As for the livelihood of the people in Tokyo that Liu Chengyou is worried about, Tokyo could survive in extremely difficult times before, but now, and is Tokyo a place for ordinary people to stay...
However, Liu Chengyou's concern for the people also comes from the bottom of his heart. After all, survival is only the most basic requirement, and it is impossible for him to get a group of people who are hungry to support his rule.
After thinking seriously for a while, Liu Chengyou's eyes gradually became calm. It is inevitable to continue to relax food policies and liberalize food prices, but this does not mean letting things go their own way. Food involves the survival of the people and the price of food in the capital and even the country. It cannot be controlled by a group of merchants, although their strength is still strong enough.
Facing Wang Zhang, Liu Chengyou said directly: "Opening up does not mean laissez-faire. On the Third Division's side, we must constantly monitor grain prices in Tokyo. Regarding the autumn harvest, I issued an order in Zhengzhou and worked hard to promote and implement it. The imperial court In Tokyo, a new Changping Warehouse was established to temporarily collect the grain collected by the people against the autumn tax into the treasury as official storage. In the future, Changping Warehouse should also be re-established in various state capitals..."
Grain reserves must be carried out vigorously.
"Yes!" At a very fast speed, Wang Zhang understood Liu Chengyou's purpose of setting up Chang Pingcang, and he agreed simply.
In Wang Zhang's view, the little emperor was indeed arrogant, but he was still calm and did not let him spend his hidden wealth to buy grain to replenish the warehouse...
At this time, Liu Chengyou nodded with satisfaction, let out a breath, and casually asked something a little happier: "I heard that new money has been developed?"
"I'm about to report to Your Majesty!" Wang Zhang held up his official robe a little, took out two new yellow coins from his sleeves, and asked someone to present them to Liu Chengyou: "This is the mother coin cast by the money-making superintendent using the same method. , the material is copper, plus tin and lead, with a three-dimensional ratio. The mold has been made, and we only need to wait for His Majesty's approval to officially cast it and promote it!"
Liu Chengyou picked up two mother coins and weighed them in his hands. They were very light and had nothing special in style. The holes were square and round, but the quality was good. The craftsmanship was quite exquisite and the handwriting was relatively clear. Qianyu Tongbao.
From Liu Chengyou's point of view, he was quite satisfied. The message was passed on, and the ministers took over the observations one by one. When it was Su Yugui's turn, he saw a smile on his old face and said to Liu Chengyou: "In terms of casting technology, I am impeccable, but there are small flaws..."
"Su Qing, just speak up!" Seeing that the old man wanted to talk in circles again, Liu Chengyou waved his hand.
"Your Majesty, the words and patterns written on the coins still have room for improvement. Your Majesty can use calligraphy and painting to redo the format!" Su Yugui said.
For Liu Chengyou, this was just a trivial matter. Noticing Su Yugui's expectant eyes, Liu Chengyou ordered: "Those who have bachelor's degrees and Ph.D.'s from the three libraries and are good at calligraphy and painting should each submit calligraphy and painting samples for selection. This matter will be handed over to Liu Chengyou. Su Qing will be in charge and cooperate with the Money Making Supervisor."
Su Yugui: "Yes!"
"Over there at the money casting supervisor, the officials in charge of casting and the craftsmen who develop casting techniques should be rewarded!" Liu Chengyou looked at Wang Zhang again.
Wang Zhang said: "I have already dealt with it."
"How much copper material does the court have in reserve for making coins?" Liu Chengyou asked what he was most concerned about.
"So far, the Money Making Supervisor has collected more than two million jins of copper, including more than 100,000 jins of gall copper..."
"How few!" Liu Chengyou rubbed his forehead and couldn't help but take a breath.
For the entire country, this small amount of copper material is really shabby, and it took more than a year to collect it.
"I brought back the bronzes of Buddha statues from the river, and used them as casting materials for the money-casting supervisors. There are already mines, and we will increase the smelting, mining and transportation of ores and import them to Tokyo." After thinking for a while, Liu Chengyou said directly: "There are many folk bronzes, three The Secretary can discuss a collection law to solve the copper shortage."
If Liu Chengyou's original style was followed, he would have issued an edict directly and unconditionally collected folk bronzes. This is inevitable. If the court funds the redemption, it can directly declare bankruptcy. Therefore, we can only do it hard, just like the plan to destroy the Buddha, and plunder directly. This kind of offending and controversial work, Liu Chengyou decided that as an emperor, he would rather not be at the forefront of everything...
"In addition, continue to develop and improve the technology of the gall copper method to increase production!" Liu Chengyou added.
The gall copper method is the wet method of copper smelting. Simply put, iron is used to replace copper. This is the development and progress of copper smelting technology.
"yes!"
