I will never be Renzong

Chapter 49
In the Chongming Hall, after Zhao Zhen finished speaking, the ministers were weighing the pros and cons in their hearts, whether to participate in this matter.

Empress Dowager Liu E has obviously been persuaded by Zhao Zhen, and also believes that the tea official discussion should be abolished, but how to change it and who to send to change it is another big problem.

"Officials! If the tea official discussion is abolished and replaced by trade, have the officials calculated how much the court's annual tea tax will be? Is it more than in previous years? If so, then the tea official discussion will be abolished. If not, Then continue to keep the tea official!"

Lu Yijian is smart, because no matter how it is changed, it is to increase the fiscal revenue of the court. If there is a better way to increase the tea tax, why not do it?

Zhao Zhen smiled and said: "To tell you the truth, I have heard that the imperial court is going to solve the tea problem these days, but I have worked hard, read a lot of ancient books and materials, and compared the income of the imperial court's tea class over the years. , if I am not fully sure, I will never abolish the tea official discussion lightly. According to the budget of the imperial court, the income from the tea tax last year should have been 165 million guan, but the actual income of the imperial court is only 80 guan. After deducting the cost of six affairs and thirteen games, the annual tea class income of the court is only less than 50 guan. If the tea official discussion is changed to commercial, I can guarantee that every year the tea The income of the class will not be less than 30 million guan, and it is pure profit."

Lu Yijian then bowed to Liu E and said, "Queen Mother! If the tea tax revenue is as high as what the officials say after the establishment of trade, then I think it is okay to abolish the tea tax!"

"Hmm! I don't know how to do business?"

Seeing that Zhao Zhen had earned his face back, Liu E was a little angry at first, but now it disappeared with the attitude of all the ministers.

Only then did Zhao Zhen express his thoughts.

"First of all, the six affairs and thirteen events were abolished, and the government no longer participated in the tea trading process. There was no prepayment of capital, and no tea interest. Only the system of collecting tea tax from tea merchants and tea rent from garden households was retained. At the same time However, the government still moderately manages tea as a special commodity, and tea merchants need to apply for a certificate to participate in the transaction, and stipulate the sales area and the deadline for tax payment, so as to prevent tax evasion.”

Feng Zheng asked puzzledly: "If this is the case, the tenants will not be able to receive the capital prepaid by the government, and they will have to pay the tea rent to the government. This will undoubtedly increase the burden on the tenants. I think this is inappropriate!"

Zhao Zhen couldn't help but be very disappointed with Feng Zheng, and immediately replied: "You know, the capital lent by the imperial court to the tenants, they have to bear the interest. Come on, isn’t it the imperial court’s forced loan before?”

Wang Zeng said with some worry: "If tea is changed to trade, it will be difficult to maintain the entry-to-China system implemented in the northwest. If this happens, I am worried that it will affect the grain purchase in Hebei and Hebei!"

Wang Zeng's words are somewhat reasonable. Although Song and Liao have been negotiating peace for many years now, no one can guarantee that the Liao Congress will not go south again. Therefore, the two roads in Hebei are stockpiling heavy troops, which naturally requires a lot of food. Disasters continued, grain production was very low, and food and clothing for the people was still a problem, not to mention the surplus grain sold to the army.

Seeing this, Zhao Zhen began to focus on planting the two potatoes and a catty of corn in his storage space, but after all, it is hard to quench thirst in the distance.

Seeing this, Liu E said: "Wang Qing's words are not unreasonable, but if we continue to implement the middle-income system, then the tea class will definitely be unable to make ends meet. This is a vicious circle, and it must not be carried out any longer. As for the lack of military rations on the two roads in Hebei Aijia suggested buying grain from the more affluent Jinghu Road and Liangzhe Road, and transporting it to Hebei Road by water. In addition, you can also disclose the news to wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan and other places. The price of grain in Hebei can be raised appropriately. In addition, 200 million guan and 50 bolts of silk were allocated from the inner treasury to purchase daily necessities for the Hebei garrison.”

Feng Zheng turned his head and said: "I am worried that this move will cause tea prices to rise, disrupt the market, and unscrupulous profiteers hoard it!"

Zhao Zhen smiled and said, "Do you know why the price of tea has risen? After the implementation of trade, tea merchants will directly obtain tea from tea farmers instead of receiving tea from Liuwu Shisanchang, so there will be no shoddy goods. , The situation of new tea with old tea, in short, new tea is the price of new tea, old tea is the price of old tea, after all, you get what you pay for? How can it disturb the market? Feng Xianggong is too worried Is it over?"

Zhao Zhen's words made the officials present burst into laughter, Feng Zheng lost face, his face became more and more uneasy, and Liu E became more and more dissatisfied with this prime minister.

Zhao Zhen knew very well that the trade of tea can realize the three surpluses of the government, tea merchants, and farmers.The reason why he is full of confidence is that he comes from the twentieth century and understands that the market can play a decisive role in the allocation of resources, so as to stimulate the vitality of market players and realize the healthy development and continuous prosperity of the market.

Since ancient times, important materials related to the national economy and the people's livelihood have always been monopolized by the government. For example, in the Han Dynasty, salt and iron became government-operated. Salt is related to the lives of the people in the world, and iron is the foundation of soldiers and farmers. There is an excuse, but tea is not a necessity of life, but a dispensable consumable, but why is it included in the official camp?

The answer is simple, that is, the court lacks money and has to compete with the people for profit.

Therefore, the saying that wealth is hidden in the people is a lie, and Zhao Zhen will not believe it. The only thing he is sure of is that if you want to enrich the country and strengthen the army, the court must have money, otherwise everything is nonsense, and the Song Dynasty's three redundancy He is unable to solve the problem right now. All he can do is to find a way to open up sources of income and make the court as rich as possible. After he is in power, he will solve the three redundant problems step by step. The road to empire has just begun.

In the Chongming Palace, Zhao Zhen just gave a suggestion. Although the two governments adopted it, it still needs to be discussed. It will be two months before it is officially promulgated to the world. I have to say that this efficiency is really low.

Although Feng Zheng knew nothing about economics, he still did some good things. For example, after Song Zhenzong's Tianshu fell, the Song Dynasty successively established a series of festivals such as Tianqing Festival and Tianqi Festival to celebrate, and each celebration cost a lot. I have to fast for every birthday.

Zhaijiao (jiao) is a Taoist ritual, also known as Zhaijiao Ritual, a ritual in which Taoism sets up an altar to offer sacrifices.That is, offering fasting and offering sacrifices to gods, so as to seek blessings and avoid disasters.The method is to purify the mind and body, build altars and set up offerings, and write inscriptions to pray to the gods.

The prime minister, Feng Zheng, said: "For a long time at home, the state's expenses should be restrained, so Liu E asked the Academy of Rituals to reduce the number of fasting and offerings from 49 to 49, and the offerings were reduced from [-] to [-]." One hundred, Zhao Zhen still felt that it was too much, and it was still too wasteful, so after persuading Liu E, he changed the fasting ceremony to twelve times a year, once a month, with [-] offerings every seven or seven times.

(End of this chapter)