Selling weapons?
I?
Are you making me happy?
Zhao Xu looked at Zhang Fei speechlessly.
This idea is far more frightening than surprising!
Zhang Fei immediately informed Zhao Xu of the Dengzhou Qiangnu lawsuit.
"So that's what happened."
Zhao Xu's tone was slightly disappointed, wondering how much benefit this could bring. After thinking about it for a while, he said: "They, these maritime merchants, brought a lot of tax revenue and overseas treasures to the country last year. It is appropriate to support them." , how to ensure that they will not resell weapons to enemy countries?”
In fact, the Song Dynasty also took some measures to ban the sea at the beginning, mainly banning private people because they were afraid that merchants would have liaisons with the Liao Kingdom.
However, after Zhao Guangyi, it became more relaxed. It was not until the provisional law was compiled that he decided to completely abolish the sea ban regulations. First, the old judicial system could turn a blind eye or close a blind eye, but the Public Security Bureau could not do it. There was this regulation, but it was relatively loose. , this will not work.
Secondly, the new tax system has enabled maritime trade to bring profits to the country.
Thirdly, it is also a sign of confidence.
Zhang Fei said: "We only sell weapons to those large merchants and sign contracts with them to ensure that the weapons are used by themselves. I also believe that they will not take the risk of committing a crime and resell the weapons for the benefit of these weapons. To the enemy country.”
"That's doable."
Zhao Xu nodded slightly, but he was not very interested.
The idea did not appeal to him at all.
Zhang Fei also saw it, so he added: "At the beginning, I suggested that your majesty include some inconspicuous business taxes into the internal treasury. Now it seems that your majesty thinks it is successful?"
When mentioning this matter, Zhao Xu became even more depressed: "Didn't I just say it? It was so successful that I was targeted by Duke Wen and others."
Zhang Fei said: "Now we can repeat our old tricks."
"Repeat the same old tricks?"
Zhao Xu asked curiously.
Zhang Fei nodded and said: "Yes, Your Majesty should know that I asked the Charity Foundation to build the port in Dengzhou. The purpose is to bring wealth to Jingdong East Road."
Zhao Xu nodded slightly.
Zhang Fei added: "According to my estimation, the main fiscal growth in the future may come from port tariffs."
"Yeah?"
Zhao Xu said in surprise.
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Definitely. Although the risk of shipping is relatively high, the cargo capacity is large, and overseas demand for our tea, porcelain, silk, and even paper is huge, and they are all huge profits. This year's The increase in port tariffs is already a sign.
Within three years, if nothing unexpected happens, port tariffs will increase exponentially. Your Majesty should deploy the ports as soon as possible. "
Another doubling of growth?
This immediately attracted Zhao Xu's attention.
Zhang Fei added: "If His Majesty decides to make the accounts of the inner treasury public, or transfer some tax revenue to the national treasury, then you can use this to exchange the port tax with the outer court. In other words, in the future, All port taxes will be paid to His Majesty, and the outer court will definitely agree. They don’t look down on these port taxes now.”
Zhao Xu was a little moved and said, "Are you serious about what you say?"
Zhang Fei said with confidence: "I would not advise your Majesty if I were not sure. Moreover, your Majesty even used the port tax to better collect the tax revenue from Fuguang area. Fuguang area is too far away from Bianliang, and their goods It is difficult to transport it to the Central Plains, so maritime merchants will ship their goods overseas for sale, and the profits earned can be directly collected by His Majesty in the form of coins in the inner treasury."
Zhao Xu nodded, "What you say makes sense, what you say makes sense."
Zhang Fei struck again while the iron was hot: "If shipping develops, then the weapons specially supplied to maritime merchants will definitely sell well. Here is another sum of money. Moreover, the production of weapons is controlled by Your Majesty, and he also controls it to a certain extent. In the future, we can even use the money and experience of maritime merchants to develop firearms. In the Ordnance Supervision's evaluation of that kind of artillery, it was written that it is beneficial to water warfare. But it is still under development. If we can get If we use the money of maritime merchants to research and develop, it will kill two birds with one stone."
Although Zhao Xu was a little moved, he still said cautiously: "I have to think about this again."
Zhang Fei didn't force it, he just asked: "What about the Dengzhou forced crossbow case?"
Zhao Xu said: "Just judge according to what you say."
"yes."
"By the way, what do you think about the territorial law proposed by Duke Wen?" Zhao Xu asked.
Zhang Fei said: "To be honest with your Majesty, I have actually been considering this issue before. This is not to prevent your Majesty from doing anything, but I want to use the territorial law to abolish the prison system and popularize the public security law. At the same time, within the legal territory, the tax department also has Collect taxes based on this.”
After Zhao Xu heard this, he thought it made sense. With the introduction of the police, procuratorate, and law, he also became disgusted with the prison system. He could not receive money, but sometimes had to pay. He asked: "Then why didn't you tell me earlier?"
Zhang Fei said: "Because I think the timing is not right yet. After all, we have some vague boundaries in the north and south. I am worried that this will affect diplomatic matters, so I didn't mention it."
Zhao Xu nodded slightly and said, "Then we will discuss this matter later?"
Zhang Fei said: "That's not necessary. I don't know what Duke Wen is thinking, but since it is legislation, people must be sent to measure it clearly. This is also a very long project. Even if His Majesty passes this policy, it will not actually affect What."
Zhao Xu just nodded, but did not express his position.
On a matter-of-fact basis, Zhao Xu was absolutely unwilling to use the internal treasury in exchange for port tax, even if the port tax could make a lot of money.
Zhang Fei also knew that this would not impress Zhao Xu, so he just emphasized that if you decide to pay, or pay part of it, you can use the port tax as a bargaining chip to avoid losing too much.
To be honest, "money" is really secondary. What Zhao Xu really cares about is financial power. This is the key.
If he could, he would definitely not hand it over.
But why does it cause him such a headache? It's because the new tax law has raised taxes on the rich and powerful, and a considerable part of it goes into the internal treasury. If he doesn't hand over the internal treasury, then the powerful will think that you are like this It is to put our money into your pocket in a different way.
Feudal society emphasized class, and in the Northern Song Dynasty, the emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats ruled the world together. If you, the emperor, get one hundred guan, then we will get 80 guan. This is reasonable, but we cannot say that you, the emperor, get 160 guan, We just take twenty strings. You are so wicked. Then why should we be loyal to you?
As the saying goes, if you don't worry about scarcity, you will worry about inequality.
This is why the emperor must take care of the ruling class, because he is the biggest rat.
You don't need to think about it to know that if Zhao Xu refuses, this matter will definitely cause a big fuss and there will be problems in the tax administration.
Under normal circumstances, Zhao Xu would probably compromise and pay part of the tax, because he himself thought it was a bit too much, so he felt a little uneasy, but now is a critical moment, and he needs to unite everyone and deal with the outside world in unison.
Then he must lead by example!
But once the accounts of the internal treasury are made public, it will be equivalent to handing over part of the financial power to the state.
Very confused.
This is a battle between reason and humanity!
It is also the most brutal struggle.
After coming out of the palace, Zhang Fei showed a hint of relief on his face and said to himself, "These old masters have not disappointed me!"
Rich Mansion.
"Kuanfu, are you a little anxious?"
Fu Bi said slightly worriedly.
Wen Yanbo glanced at Fu Bi, stroked his beard and said with a smile: "If even finance cannot be supervised by the law, then there is no other way to talk about it."
Fu Bi nodded and said: "Of course I know this, but the public security law has not yet been fully popularized. If the officials are alerted, they may fail!"
"But this is a rare opportunity. If the government doesn't hand over the internal treasury, will the powerful people in the court still pay taxes obediently?"
Wen Yanbo said: "But please don't worry, Mr. Fu. I have also taken into account Mr. Fu's concerns, so I chose to mix this matter with the strategy of guarding Liao. The officials will definitely think that I am doing this for defense." He would never think so much about doing business with Liao in private."
Fu Bi asked: "Then are you?"
Wen Yanbo said truthfully: "It is precisely because of the connivance in the past few times that the Khitan came to take advantage of us every time we had conflicts with Dangxiang. As a result, we always focused on one thing at the expense of the other. In the end, we lost our wives and soldiers. This is not the case twice. We cannot make the same mistakes again.
Moreover, being strong against the Liao State can not only stop the Liao State's mentality of taking advantage of the situation, but also make the officials more cautious, so that they will not be deceived by Wang Jiefu and desperately go to conquer Xixia. "
He was one of the few people in the court who was tough on the Liao State, because he believed that no matter how much money or land he gave, the Liao State would not allow the Song Dynasty to destroy Xixia. This kind of compromise was meaningless. At the same time, he believed that the Liao State would also Not as powerful as imagined.
In addition, he knew that Wang Anshi had been advising the emperor to send troops to Xixia. Although Wang Anshi was relatively low-key at present, the emperor had been operating in secret. He did not yet know what kind of medicine they were selling in the gourd. He was very defensive against Wang Anshi. Wang Anshi must be prevented from taking power again. If the Liao Kingdom does not compromise, then Zhao Xu will not dare to attack Xia easily.
Putting aside the impact of party disputes, from an overall perspective, Wen Yanbo was only relatively strong strategically, but he was still conservative in tactics. This was also because the Song Dynasty had never won a large-scale attack in the past seventy years.
In this regard, he had put forward this point as early as the Renzong period. The generals did not know the soldiers, and the soldiers did not know the generals. The defense was okay, but it was difficult to win a large-scale attack. Moreover, he believed that the imperial court was too involved in the arrangement of troops by the generals of Bianzhou. Formation, this is also very difficult to win.
Although Wang Anshi proposed the art of generals and made the soldiers know their generals and train their soldiers, the three feet of ice did not freeze in a day.
It would be too risky to send troops now. He still agreed with Fan Zhongyan's plan and continued to exert pressure on the diplomatic and economic levels to induce the other party to send troops and collapse its country in order to defend and destroy the enemy.
As for these matters, Zhang Fei can only make secret plans. For the time being, the Supreme Court cannot intervene. This is the highest strategy.
Zhang Fei didn't pay too much attention to these things because he wasn't very good at it. He had been busy trying the Dengzhou Qiannu case.
Although he had concerns in his mind, he still followed the regulations and sent people to conduct multi-faceted investigations into the case.
After many researches, it was determined that this powerful crossbow is indeed very beneficial to naval battles, and it is necessary to carry a powerful crossbow when going to sea.
At the same time, according to the evidence from the Security Department of the Song Dynasty, those maritime merchants only equipped crossbows on cargo ships going to sea, and the manufacturers who produced crossbows only sold them to maritime merchants and not to anyone else.
Having said that, even if he dares to sell it, there is no need for anyone who dares to ask for it.
Except for rebellion, other industries do not need strong weapons.
The highest royal court.
"I wonder what the president of the court summoned Mr. Wang to tell him?"
Wang Anshi came to the lobby and bowed his hands humbly.
"Please, Master Wang, let me go."
Zhang Fei cried and laughed again and again, and extended his hand to signal: "Sister Wang, please sit down, please sit down."
Wang Anshi sat down and continued to say: "The new official, Chief Justice, has been very successful since he took office, but he frightened all our courtiers to death."
Zhang Fei smiled and said: "But I will definitely not scare Bachelor Wang."
Wang Anshi asked: "How do you say this?"
Zhang Fei said: "Because only those who have ghosts in their hearts will feel afraid. Bachelor Wang is aboveboard!"
"Stop it!"
Wang Anshi quickly raised his hand to stop him, "You asked me to come, what's the matter?"
"It's not a call, it's a please."
"What's going on?"
"Has Academician Wang heard about the Dengzhou forced crossbow case?"
"Have heard a little bit."
Wang Anshi looked at Zhang Fei curiously again. He didn't know why he was looking for this matter.
Zhang Fei immediately said: "Scholar Wang should know that port taxes have been increasing recently."
Wang Anshi nodded.
Zhang Fei said: "Therefore, I plan to rule that maritime merchants can equip any weapons overseas to encourage everyone to trade overseas and increase tax revenue in this area. But I still plan to punish the crossbow merchant."
Wang Anshi frowned and said: "Since maritime merchants are allowed to equip any weapons overseas, but at the same time merchants are prohibited from producing them, isn't this a self-contradiction?"
Zhang Fei said: "Is this why I invited Bachelor Wang to come?"
Wang Anshi said: "You don't want to turn weapons into a business department, do you?"
Zhang Fei exclaimed: "Scholar Wang is really very smart."
Wang Anshi said: "How many weapons can those maritime merchants use? For this reason, turning the military weapons supervisor into a business department will only cause trouble."
Zhang Fei said: "But Bachelor Wang cannot deny the advantages of the Public Service Department. Once any government agency becomes a Public Service Department, it will immediately become more efficient and produce better products. This is exactly the problem faced by the Ordnance Supervision."
"This is different."
Wang Anshi said: "Other government agencies have become business agencies and can sell goods to people all over the world, but to whom can weapons be sold? Just some maritime merchants."
Zhang Fei said: "You can also sell it to your enemy's enemy."
Wang Anshi frowned slightly.
Zhang Fei said: "For example, taking the current situation in Xixia, we certainly hope that Xixia will become more chaotic as possible, but if we support Xixia merchants in the name of the country, this is somewhat inappropriate and will also be hindered by the court. But If the Agency sells weapons to those businessmen, there is nothing wrong with that.
In addition, I am not saying that all arms supervisors will be turned into business agencies. I just suggest that it is necessary to set up several business agencies that produce weapons. It can also be regarded as an attempt. If these business agencies produce Weapons are better than weapons inspectors, and the court at least has one more choice. "
Wang Anshi hesitated for a moment, "But this is a weapon after all."
Zhang Fei said: "Xueshi Wang suggested that the government, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of War all contribute money to cooperate with businessmen for production. This way, they can control the production and sale of weapons, and at the same time, they can use the competition of businessmen to develop more sophisticated weapons, and at the same time, they can provide officials with My family makes a lot of money, so if the country needs weapons, it has to buy them."
Wang Anshi opened his eyes and looked at Zhang Fei in shock, "The government produces weapons and then sells them to the country?"
Zhang Fei nodded.
Half a month ago, Wang Anshi would have thought this was nonsense, but at this moment, Wang Anshi felt that it was really possible because Wen Yanbo was causing trouble.
Wang Anshi said: "Your idea is too bold."
Zhang Fei said: "I will give a verdict first and force the court to issue policies related to arms sales. Wang Xueshi just needs to follow the trend."
If this were Sima Guang, he would have scolded Zhang Fei until he was bloody, but Wang Anshi was different. He preferred this idea.
Moreover, the imperial court promotes the reform of the imperial court, not once or twice. This kind of routine allows Wang Anshi to assess the situation and advance and retreat freely. You make the decision first, and I can take care of it myself.
After negotiating with Wang Anshi, Zhang Fei finally gave his final judgment, judging that maritime merchants have the right to use any weapons at sea. The reason is that maritime merchants also have to pay tariffs to the country, but overseas, it is difficult for the country to give them Protection, so they should be given more rights to protect themselves, but only on board. Anyone who wants to go ashore for maintenance or replacement must apply.
Therefore, those sea merchants armed with powerful crossbows are not guilty.
As for the merchants who produced crossbows, they thought they were only supplying to maritime merchants, so they were dealt with lightly, their shops were sealed, and they were imprisoned for one year, but they could pay ransom to offset their crimes.
After this verdict, the businessman was both happy and confused.
Since we are allowed to go to sea and use strong crossbows, but we are not allowed to make them, this is obviously playing tricks on us!
Sima Guang and others also agreed very much. They thought Zhang Fei was playing tricks.
This is done to safeguard the concept of the rule of law and at the same time prevent them from holding a strong crossbow.
At this moment, Wang Anshi suddenly reported to the emperor and proposed the concept of the Arms Industry Agency.
There are three reasons, one. Legally, people are allowed to hold swords, bows and sticks, but now the scale of domestic business transactions is increasing, and they all need some weapons to arm themselves. This is a hidden danger. If the state sells these weapons, it can be done to better control.
Secondly, facts have proven that in terms of production, the government agencies are not as efficient as the business agencies, and their products are not as sophisticated as the business agencies. This can promote great progress in weapons research and development.
Third, doing so can also enable the court to better legislate arms transactions.
As soon as this suggestion came out, the civil and military officials of the entire court were shocked, but the reformists immediately gave them great support. Once the weapons were commercialized, the profits would be visible to the naked eye, and the business administration was always in their hands.
The three departments are also very supportive, and the Agency will definitely be able to accelerate the monetization of the national finance.
The conservative side must be opposed to it, it is too bold, but Wen Yanbo is preventing them from objecting, because he has just submitted a petition to the emperor, asking the emperor to hand over the internal treasure trove. Wang Anshi knows this, but so far he has no objection on the surface. of.
If you oppose Wang Anshi on this matter, then Wang Anshi will definitely oppose him on that matter. If a considerable number of ministers supported the emperor in not handing over the inner treasure treasury, then the emperor would definitely not hand it over.
In fact, Wang Anshi did not say anything because he was worried that if the emperor did not pay, it would affect the tax policy. The current tax policy should not be too perfect. This was unimaginable before.
But if a fight breaks out, Wang Anshi may not care so much, at least he has reason to object.
Zhao Xu was already struggling. After seeing this situation, he might as well wait and see.
If you guys fight, I can balance it and maximize your interests.
But Wen Yanbo was not stupid. He immediately went to Fu Bi and Sima Guang to discuss whether they could pass legislation to restrict it.
Of course this is possible.
In fact, Fu Bi also agrees with what Wang Anshi said. This kind of professionalization is more convenient for the supervision of the public prosecutor and the law. Now there are many blind spots in the arms supervision, and the public prosecutor and the law cannot supervise it at all.
Once the several people put it together, it is better not to play against Wang Anshi. Anyway, the backhand can be restricted, so we still put the big things first.
But the conservatives did not speak out in support, they just endured silence.
In the end, Zhao Xu compromised.
He promised to make public the accounts of the Neizangtreasury, and also took the initiative to assign most of the finances of the Neizangtreasury to the three departments for unified national arrangements.
He knew that as long as he made it public, he would basically be under surveillance, so he might as well just do it in one step.
However, Zhao Xu also considered it very carefully, because after the last restructuring, the three secretaries were directly appointed by the emperor, and he still controlled the financial power, but it was changed from privatization to nationalization.
Wen Yanbo and the others are also very satisfied with this.
This is already not easy.
In exchange, all coastal port taxes were transferred to the emperor's name, and this part of the accounts did not need to be disclosed to the country.
However, tax laws still need to go through normal procedures and cannot be decided by the emperor.
Wen Yanbo and the others were eager to legislate which money should go to the emperor and which money should go to the country.
At the same time, Zhao Xu also decided to adopt Wen Yanbo's strategy, including territorial law, strengthen the defense of Hebei, and give soldiers higher treatment. This also made it clear that the Song Dynasty would change its strategy towards the Liao Kingdom and no longer blindly Make compromises and be prepared to break up at any time.
Of course, Zhao Xu also agreed with Wang Anshi's suggestion.
However, this was not done in one step. Wang Anshi first built weapons production workshops for six business units. The Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War paid for it, and cooperated with some businessmen to establish a weapons business unit each.
The remaining four all belong to the emperor.
The Legislative Council has also enacted legislation in this regard. Previously, people were allowed to produce swords and short spears, but this will remain unchanged and will be treated as ordinary trading workshops.
However, the production of crossbows and firearms must be approved by the imperial court, and the local government has no power over this.
This also indicates that production can only be achieved by cooperating with the imperial court.
Otherwise, it is impossible to give you approval.
As for the territorial law, for the time being, it is only the top management who has determined that the legal territory will have the three major powers of administration, taxation and justice, but this is top secret, and ordinary officials do not know that this is the case.
This is mainly due to fear of causing external anxiety and internal anxiety.
Because it is impossible to have Jizhou in this legal territory.
However, the Legislative Council also quietly made its first attempt, which was to target the Hehuang area. It had previously been determined that the entire Hehuang area would be included in the territory of the Song Dynasty. This time, the Legislative Council passed legislation, clarifying the specific boundaries and giving statutory Territorial properties.
